SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Councilmember wants to explore buying heroin for addicts

Jun 8, 2018, 6:30 PM

I-27, heroin, safe injection site...

Supporters of safe injection sites like Insite in Vancouver, BC. Seattle and King County aim to establish similar locations. (KIRO 7)

(KIRO 7)

Yesterday was one of the most evil, unbelievable days of Seattle’s history. In the Seattle City Council’s most recent discussion on its proposed mobile heroin death site, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw suggested that the city government “explore” supplying free drugs for addicts. You want taxpayers to buy heroin for addicts?

I don’t know any place — even Vancouver’s heroin death sites — where the government actually buys the drugs for people.

This is where we’re headed. I’m laughing in lieu of crying or screaming. Every heroin addict in the country is going to run here if they hear that the government is not only allowing heroin use, is not only building them wet houses to shoot up in, but is actually handing out heroin like free candy.

RELATED: There is nothing safe about injection sites

I am so sick and tired of hearing these Seattle City Council members talk about “saving lives” with these death sites. It’s not even remotely close to being about saving lives. It is about money. It is about creating a new level of local government.

The mobile death site is a big RV — which will be the first time ever in our region that anyone has ever injected drugs in an RV, of course (sarcasm). It costs the city government $8.1 million, plus another couple million a year for staffing. And yes, they want to create about 14 new jobs so government workers can help people kill themselves with heroin.

They see this as a wonderful way to expand the footprint of government. That is all this is about. It is not about saving lives. The people who are in recovery from addiction know that.

A listener who recovered from heroin emailed me to tell me that an addict has to hit rock-bottom to make the decision to turn their life around and get clean. He said that providing them with a place to inject heroin only enables them and makes the opioid crisis much worse.

I know that he’s right, because I’ve talked to a lot of people who are in recovery. And I know that is the common thing — that you have to hit rock-bottom to want to change. And this is the insanity of our politicians. The government enabling addicts is the worst thing you can do for those people. You can’t build them a place in which to inject drugs — it is a criminal thing to do. If you are the parent of an addict and you bring them into your house to save their life, will you let them keep using heroin? Of course not. A loving parent does not do that.

Does a loving government do that? There’s no such thing. Government does not love. Politicians do not love. Politicians use and enable, and they see addiction as a way to grow government. If you enable, of course you’re going to become a national magnet for drug cartels and drug users. We have the worst property crime of the 20 biggest cities in America because all of the addicts have to steal to feed their addiction. Do you think a mobile death site will help any of this?

You could save those millions by sticking some bureaucrats in the RVs that area already all over the city and having them help the addicts who are already in there to shoot up. It won’t cost you a penny, apart from the bureaucrats’ salaries. And you can put the RVs on the blocks of the Seattle City Council members so they can sit on their porches and get a good view of their policies at work.

In the pursuit of expanding government, we have pure, soulless evil running this city right now.

Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, left, and Serena Williams, of the United States, talk on the court during...

Associated Press

Top tennis stars team up for the U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament, in photos

NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the best tennis players in the world will play doubles specialists in the revamped 16-team U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament. A $1 million prize was added last year to attract top singles players to the competition.

17 minutes ago

...

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin Show

‘Seattle is a destination’: Gee celebrates city’s record 3.7M downtown visitors in July

July marked a record for Seattle with 3.7 million downtown visitors, showcasing a strong tourism recovery.

48 minutes ago

Associated Press

Editorial Roundup: United States

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ Aug. 24 The Washington Post says Americans and Canadians are losers in the escalating trade wars The 50 percent tariffs announced Monday by President Donald Trump on all cars, trucks, automotive parts and steel from Canada would crush manufacturers in the United States and […]

51 minutes ago

beavers maple valley...

John Curley Show

As beaver dams turn Maple Valley land into a swamp, Curley explains why beavers do what they do

With beavers causing havoc, KIRO Host John Curley asked traffic reporter Nate Connors, "Why do beavers build dams?"

1 hour ago

Associated Press

Michigan AG releases Flint water crisis report, says final accountability step her office can take

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said a report released Tuesday on the lead-water crisis in the city is the final step her office can take toward accountability, years after a state Supreme Court ruling shut down criminal cases against a former governor and eight other people. Flint residents suffered through years […]

2 hours ago

Red plastic cups are arranged in Phoenix, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)Credi...

Associated Press

Sippin’ (and chuggin’) through the years with a party mainstay — the red Solo cup

TABOR, S.D. (AP) — It’s red. It’s soft plastic. And it probably contains your favorite beverage. The red Solo cup belongs on any list of the country’s most distinctly American objects, but it’s actually more than a single object. It is a symbol of the American psyche — a country that loves a good party, […]

2 hours ago

Dori: Councilmember wants to explore buying heroin for addicts