Tacoma deputy mayor champions initiative to decriminalize personal drug use
In 2012, Washington residents voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
Only eight years later, a coalition of policy makers, public health professionals, treatment specialists and law enforcement veterans — including several with strong Tacoma ties — want to go much further.
Collectively, they’re pushing Initiative 1715, or the “Treatment and Recovery Act,” which would decriminalize the personal use of all illicit drugs — like heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine — while funneling more than $125 million annually from the state’s legalized marijuana tax revenue into treatment and recovery programs.
Proponents, including Tacoma City Council member Keith Blocker, say I-1715 would help keep those with substance-use disorder out of jails and prisons while blunting the disproportionate negative impacts drugs laws have had on communities of color. Recently filed with the Secretary of State’s office, the initiative will need roughly 260,000 valid signatures by July 2 to qualify for November’s ballot.
“Do we want another body in jail, or do we want someone who actually can get help or get support? That’s really what we’re looking at,” said Monisha Harrell, the board chair of Equal Rights Washington, underscoring the main theme of the initiative.
Not everyone is on board.
In a statement emailed to The News Tribune, Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett described the initiative as “a fairly radical leap.”
“What is clear is that we need more drug treatment. What isn’t clear is that decriminalizing all hard drugs will be effective at getting more people into treatment,” Robnett said.
If it becomes law, I-1715 would reduce personal drug use offenses from crimes to civil infractions — meaning the possession of small amounts would carry a fine, not the possibility of jail or prison. The criminal penalties for selling and manufacturing drugs would remain intact, while an advisory committee would help develop guidelines for what constitutes “personal use.”
Under 1-1715, anyone cited with possession of an amount of a controlled substance for personal use would be given a choice: pay the civil penalty or attend a drug assessment within 72 hours and have access to treatment.
Robnett said using marijuana tax revenues to increase drug treatment services was an idea worth considering but that “the decriminalization of possession of hard drugs” was a step too far, in part because “criminal laws ... provide a deterrent for behavior.”
“We have legalized marijuana in Washington, but methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and other narcotics are extremely addictive and destructive,” Robnett said. “These drugs are not dangerous because they are illegal; they are illegal because they are dangerous.”
Blocker, a leading member of the initiative’s steering committee, argued that our current criminal justice approach to addiction has been a failure and that I-1715 has the potential to “create a mandate where we’re actually helping (those with substance-use disorder) as opposed to incarcerating them.”
It’s a stance borne — at least in part — from personal experience.
Blocker’s mother struggled with addiction, he recalled, and at 19 he was arrested for marijuana possession in his hometown of Philadelphia.
“One time in my past life I was arrested for marijuana possession — a dime bag,” said Blocker, who is black and currently serves as Tacoma’s deputy mayor. He noted that the offense resulted in a night in jail and an arduous process to clear his record.
“So those are the people I’m trying to protect,” he explained. “I could have been 19 on a college campus, and more than likely …. I wouldn’t get incarcerated. But being on the streets of north Philadelphia with a dime bag of marijuana, you go to jail.”
While marijuana is now legal in Washington, Blocker said the disproportionate enforcement of all drug laws continue to take an inordinate toll on people of color and their communities.
“We can’t fix the past, but we most certainly can address the concerns right now with policies and initiatives that could make our communities safer and provide people with the help that they need to improve the quality of their lives,” Blocker said.
Sal Mungia, a Tacoma-based attorney and the former president of the Washington State Bar association, is another member of the I-1715 steering committee.
Mungia said that while any discussion about the potential decriminalization of illicit drugs will stir strong emotions, he believes it’s a step Washington voters are ready for.
“I think there is a broad recognition that what we’re doing isn’t working. This war on drugs — 50 years. Whoever heard of a 50-year war? Why would you keep on doing the same thing?” Mungia said.
While leaders on both side of the debate seem to agree with the need to greatly expand recovery and treatment services, to what extent I-1715 would actually keep those suffering from substance-use disorder out of prison remains an item of contention.
Robnett said it’s often more complicated than that, contending that that “drug use frequently leads to other criminal behavior, either because a user is under the influence ... or because they are funding an addiction by committing crimes.”
According to charging data provided by the Robnett’s office, in 2019 there were a total of 138 cases where unlawful possession of a controlled substance was the only charge a defendant faced.
In the same year, there were 401 cases where possession of a controlled substance was one of multiple charges (though in 142 of those cases, the drug charge was the most serious).
“Even if possession were decriminalized, it would still be illegal to sell drugs and we would continue to have all the fall-out that goes with any black market commodity: organized crime, turf wars, dangerous products like drugs containing fentanyl,” Robnett said.
Robnett argued that Pierce County’s drug court and our mental health court “are both better alternatives to decriminalization” and that a more effective approach would be to expand them. Her office “charges basically three types of drug crimes: delivery of drugs, possession with the intent to deliver, and the less serious crime of possession of illegal drugs,” she said.
“Facing a felony more often serves as hitting bottom for some drug users and becomes the incentive to successfully enter treatment. Completion of drug court or mental health court changes peoples’ lives. I urge everyone to come sit through a drug court or mental health court graduation. The impact is profound,” Robnett said.
Les Liggins, a retired captain with the Seattle Police Department, said he knows all too well that a drug charge is oftentimes one of several a defendant faces.
Still, he believes I-1715 has the potential to make a real difference when it comes to reducing the number of people who end up behind bars due to addiction.
For one, Liggins said, the initiative would reduce the potentially life-long impacts of having a criminal drug conviction, like difficulty finding a job and housing — which often work to perpetuate the problem of addiction and associated criminal activity.
Liggins, who spent four years as a narcotics commander, also said adequately treating addiction as the disease it is, as opposed to branding it a crime and leaving it up to the criminal justice system to contend with, would ultimately reduce crime and drug use.
“Addiction is a real problem, and the answer is not … arresting and locking away people and then dumping them back on the street with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Let’s deal with the substance issue. Dealing with that issue will impact the other crimes being committed,” Liggins said.
“With marijuana, we were told the world was going to end and everybody was going to be an addict. It has not happened. Now we’re looking at the drugs that are really difficult for a person, and totally destroying their lives and the lives of family and friends. A lot of people will be uncomfortable with that. I understand. But we know that what we’re doing now is not working,” Liggins added.
“Something has to be done.”
