FOLLOWUP: City Council approves public-drug-use bill, 6-3
In the fourth hour of today’s City Council meeting, councilmembers have just approved the bill that brings city law in line with state law, making public drug use potentially prosecutable. As reported last week, the bill co-sponsored by Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Andrew Lewis states that diversion is preferable to prosecution. Supporters say that’s an improvement on state law. But opponents say this criminalizes a health problem and that the diversion preference is meaningless because the city is not spending the money it wil take to make treatment and services available. The three “no” votes were Councilmembers Teresa Mosaueda, Tammy Morales, and Kshama Sawant.
No comments