Snohomish County upholds interim ban on safe injection sites

An interim ban on safe injection sites still holds in a decision by the Snohomish County Council on Monday.

RELATED: City council member surprised by what she sees at injection site

The Everett Herald reports the ban will likely become permanent after more meetings.

The decision to uphold the ban followed a public hearing specifically about the unincorporated parts of the county. Other Snohomish County cities are already considering their own temporary bans.

At today's Public Hearing the residents of Snohomish County unanimously testified in opposition to heroin injection sites. We will not follow Seattle's footsteps in enabling addiction through these destructive sites.

— Nate Nehring (@NateNehring) November 20, 2017

The county joins Marysville, Lynnwood and Sultan, which are also looking at banning them as well.

Lake Stevens already has a ban in place.

The Snohomish County Council passed a six-month moratorium on injection sites in September.

The county also announced on Monday a new effort to tackle the opioid epidemic. The county’s health district, executive and sheriff say they’ll treat the epidemic as a true health crisis and learn from each agency’s data, according to the Herald.  The response to the 2014 Oso mudslide served as an experience to learn inter-agency cooperation.

Several cities in King County have already taken steps to ban injection sites.

Auburn, Bellevue, Burien, Federal Way, Kent, Renton and Sammamish have all passed temporary or permanent bans.

Despite the bans, there are two injection sites slated for King County, one in Seattle and one elsewhere in the county. Kohl-Welles says Capitol Hill is the perfect place for the Seattle location.

“Capitol Hill is one that seems the most obvious for here in Seattle because the neighborhood wants to have it,” she told KIRO 7.

KIRO 7 contributed to this report.

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