SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle advocates and some City Council members are pushing to arrange sites where residents can safely use drugs.
The new proposal in the city’s 2021 budget would allow drug use under medical supervision and with access to overdose-preventing medication at existing social service and health care locations, the Seattle Times reported Wednesday.
The plan would transfer $1.4 million to the city’s Human Services Department that the city had previously set aside to build a supervised drug use site.
The department would then work with Public Health – Seattle & King County to contract with nonprofits to provide the service at their facilities. The new budget action was proposed by advocates at a Sept. 22 committee meeting and was discussed at a budget session last week.
“If you have loved ones who are in the throes of addiction, you want them to get better,” said Councilmember Lisa Herbold. “You want them to have the support and the resources to fight their addictions, but what you’re most afraid of is if they’re going to die.”
The plan faces several potential legal and public sentiment obstacles. The original plan that involved building a supervised site has been plagued by the same legal and public sentiment issues for the past three years, The Times reported.
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