Correction: Jeanne Kohl-Welles visited Vancouver’s heroin den
Nov 21, 2017, 10:22 AM | Updated: 12:17 pm
(AP file photo)
On Monday, I read from a trusted source that Jeanne Kohl-Welles did not go to the infamous government-funded heroin den on East Hastings in Vancouver, BC. I had a brief interaction on Twitter with her that lead me to believe that was the case. Or, to be more fair, I chose to believe that was the case. We posted the story about it, below. Today, Jeanne Kohl-Welles said she did, in fact visit East Hastings. I apologize to her and you, I was sloppy on this.
—- Original post —-
King County Councilwoman Jeanne Kohl-Welles wants you to believe all is well around Vancouver’s government-funded heroin den: the councilwoman is either lying or willfully ignorant.
“I went up there with the anticipation that it was going to be a post-apocalyptic scene out of some movie; that it was so horrible there. I didn’t find that.”
That’s because, as David Preston on Safe Seattle points out, Jeanne Kohl-Welles went to a new location, recently opened in a suburb, not yet overrun by users, dealers, and the gang enforcers of dealers.
Where Jeanne Kohl-Welles wants you to think she went
Where Jeanne Kohl Welles didn’t go is the government funded heroin den that is infamous throughout the world, the one on East Hastings Street, the one in the neighborhood where EMTs respond to 15-20 overdoses per day, the one that shows up in Google or YouTube searches, the one about which she has heard testimony and seen pictures, the one where drug dealers and their gang enforcers congregate, the one where nurses help first-time users of heroin who are “just experimenting” shoot up. Jeanne Kohl-Welles didn’t go here:
Around East Hastings Street overdose deaths are at record highs. Calls to respond to overdoses are at record highs. The same thing will happen in Seattle if Jeanne Kohl-Welles gets her way, which is why I was so pleased that our new King County Sheriff, Mitzi Johanknecht has promised to arrest drug dealers and drug users who gather around the government-funded heroin den. King County used an activist Judge, Alecia Galvan’–who calls herself a “member of the Resistance“–to force these sites down the throats of King County voters who voted for I-27.
Again, from another video, here is where Jeanne Kohl-Welles decided to NOT go: