Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is calling lawmakers back to work after they rejected a bill setting out a new statewide drug policy
— to decriminalize drug possession. Cities and counties would be free to adopt their own approaches to drug possession and paraphernalia, creating a patchwork of laws that could undermine efforts to treat addiction as a public health issue.
“Our hands-off approach to people using illegal drugs in public has resulted in rampant street crime and a death toll rivaling that of COVID-19 in Seattle,” Nelson said in a statement. “Complacency is no longer an option.” But as this year’s session ended late last month, a measure billed as a compromise was voted down in the Democratic-controlled House 55-43. It would have increased potential penalties for drug possession, making it a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, rather than a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days.
Without those provisions of the bill being passed, the state's approach to drugs amounts to “an entire diversion system with nothing to divert people to,” said Caleb Banta-Green, a research professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
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