Kent showing early signs of progress on public drug use laws as more people seek treatment

Kent showing early signs of progress on public drug use laws as more people seek treatment

Washington is more than one month into the enforcement of open drug use and possession laws. One city is already seeing some early signs of progress.

KENT, Wash. - Washington is more than one month into the enforcement of open drug use and possession laws. One city is already seeing some early signs of progress.

"We’re seeing the beginning stages of this having some positive impact on our community and those suffering from substance abuse," said Kent Mayor Dana Ralph.

Ralph was a lead advocate, at the local and state level, for establishing drug laws. After a Senate Bill replacing the Blake Decision to criminalize drugs failed to pass out of the legislature in April, Ralph said concerns grew about the future of public health and safety.

"The idea of drugs not carrying some sort of penalty meant that we were not able to connect people that really needed treatment with a treatment resource. So, without the ability to arrest, we can’t get somebody in front of a judge and then give them that option of do you want to get into treatment?" said Ralph. "We felt very strongly about the fact that this was an important tool to help keep our community safe." 

In May, Ralph presented a treatment-forward proposal for Kent, which city council approved. That same month, state lawmakers established laws on public drug possession and use during a special legislative session, which were signed by Gov. Jay Inslee. The laws began statewide on August 15.

"Kent was 100 percent a leader in this, even when the legislature hadn’t acted. We were the first city to put in place our own laws. So, now we’re in the swing with that statewide law. We’re going to continue to work at it, we’re going to continue to have our officers making contact, our prosecutors working through those cases. And the end result is going to be a healthier community," said Ralph.

The mayor said Kent leaders were intentional about establishing a treatment-forward approach to public drug use. Still in the early stages, Ralph said they are seeing more people seeking treatment. HIPPA rules, however, prevent them from knowing what kind of treatment services were provided.

With Kent starting enforcement of its own drug laws slightly earlier than some other cities, it provides leaders early indications on how things are working. This includes Kent Police Department conducting emphasis patrols in areas that see higher reports of drug use and possession.

"We’ve looked and identified a couple areas in our city where we feel this is a great opportunity to get back out, make contact with the people in those areas, but also when it does arise, make arrests so that we can get people help. I know it sounds a little disjointed—wait, make an arrest to help someone? But a lot of times the arrest is just the initial contact piece to get them into the process of hopefully getting off of drugs," said Jarod Kasner, assistant chief of Kent Police Department.

"We have seen an increase in contacts with our police department. That is a good thing, that’s not a bad thing. About half of those arrests have been stand-alone drugs only. So, those are people that would not have come in contact with our police department other than the fact that they were publicly using. That also means that that’s half of those folks that would not have made it front of a judge," said Ralph. "We are seeing people saying that they want to have that deferred sentencing in order to get into treatment."

While the new enforcement effort is focused on street-level users, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office continues to target the supply. From January 2023 to August 2023, prosecutors have filed 249 drug dealing cases.

"A large, large majority of those, nearly 70 percent are fentanyl or meth or both," said Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office. "What we’re seeing are people moving very large quantities of fentanyl and meth or at least enough to kill people. And we want to address that and we’re going to keep doing that."

Ralph estimated it could take six months to have a better idea of how the drug laws are impacting public use, and possession and connecting people to the help they need. During that time, the mayor said the city would continue gathering and reviewing information to adjust enforcement as necessary.

"We are optimistic that we have a tool. It is still really, really early," said Ralph. "It took us a long time to get where we are. It’s going to take us a long time to get back. But we’re hearing some hedged optimism at this point."