Safe drug consumption sites were a hot topic throughout much of 2018, with contentious debates both for and against them, but over the past year the conversation has been more muted.<\/p>\n
A couple of key things happened over the past 12 months that put a damper on local efforts. The first was a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, which tried to block proposed injection sites in that city. The second was an announcement from U.S. Attorney Brian Moran in Seattle, who threatened the same should safe consumption sites move forward here, KUOW reported.<\/a><\/p>\n In October, a U.S. District Court judge in Philadelphia ruled that safe consumption sites do not violate federal drug laws, according to NPR<\/a>. The ruling allows that city’s site to move forward, but an appeal was expected.<\/p>\n Safe consumption sites saw support in King County and Seattle. Because of a backlash, sites could only be placed in cities that agreed to host them. Seattle was one of those cities — and may hold the key to creating them in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n Activists are taking stock, including Jesse Rawlins, the spokesperson for Yes to Safe Consumption Sites. The organization is part of the Public Defender Association and has pushed for bringing the sites — which are used in Canada and Europe — to King County in an attempt to curb overdose deaths.<\/p>\n “I’m definitely optimistic, I think again (Seattle Mayor Jenny) Durkan in particular, she campaigned on implementation of safe consumption and the city council has shown a lot of leadership in allocating resources through their legislative budget process, and the mayor has not made as much movement,” he said. “So I think there is a lot of opportunity for executive branches in local government to make movement on this.”<\/p>\n Rawlins said Seattle could be a national and local leader in implementing what he called evidence-based practices like safe consumption sites.<\/p>\n On the other end, groups like Citizens for a Safe King County<\/a> have been trying to block the sites from opening. Last fall, the group tried to place I-27 on the ballot, which would have prevented the county from spending money on funding the sites. The Washington State Supreme Court struck down<\/a> the initiative, saying it would have infringed on the county’s right to set its own budget.<\/p>\n As the county has struggled to figure out whether it will create safe consumption sites, overdoses both nationally and locally have remained high. There’s also signs that it has turned from<\/a> a prescription opioid epidemic into a heroin and fentanyl crisis.<\/p>\n The King County Medical Examiner’s Office showed that 409 people died from drug overdoses in 2018, an increase from 383 in 2017. Fentanyl overdoses were also higher in 2018 when compared to previous years. Three high school students have also died in recent months<\/a> in the county because of fentanyl overdoses.<\/p>\n