‘Looking the other way is not a great option’: WA Sen. Jesse Salomon pushes for treatment backed by penalties to address Aurora drug use

State Sen. Jesse Salomon called for addiction treatment backed by criminal penalties while discussing public drug use and safety along North Aurora Avenue in Seattle. He described a legislative proposal that would have allowed drug possession cases to be dismissed after successful treatment but imposed 45 days in jail for people who did not complete it.

Speaking with “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, Salomon said his approach draws on his experience as a prosecutor and public defender, as well as his family’s experiences near Aurora.

“The goal of the bill was to get people treatment. I’m not trying to be punitive,” Salomon said. “The status quo and looking the other way is not a great option for anybody, not for the community, not for you.”

Salomon describes concerns near his family’s neighborhood

Salomon discussed the portion of North Aurora he represents and the conditions he sees there.

“My stepmother and father live three blocks off Aurora, in a part of Aurora where all this is happening, and I don’t live far from it,” Salomon said. “There’s a lot of prostitution. There’s a lot of sex trafficking. There’s a lot of drugs. There’s a lot of theft.”

He also described conversations with his child about what they encounter.

“I’m raising a kid, and I tell them, when we go to Aurora, I grew up in Seattle, and this is not the Seattle that I’m used to,” Salomon said. “And I don’t want you to think that you see some people laid out with their pants around their ankles. That’s not normal, and it’s not acceptable.”

Treatment proposal included jail time for noncompletion

Outlining how he intended his drug-treatment proposal to work, Salomon called for jail time if treatment requirements aren’t met.

“Ultimately, we’ll pay for treatment. You just need to go through it. If you do the treatment and you get better, we’re going to dismiss the case. It’s off your record,” Salomon said. “If you don’t do it, right here, here’s where the controversy was. Then you will go to jail for 45 days.”

He described the message he wanted a judge to deliver.

“I’d like to see you go through treatment. Here are all the avenues, and we’re going to help you,” Salomon said. “If you don’t do it, I’m telling you now, you get 45 days in jail.”

That approach did not survive the legislative process.

“The House changed it, essentially. Didn’t support that version of it, the accountability portion of it,” Salomon said.

Salomon rejects both lengthy imprisonment and inaction

When asked why lawmakers disagree over penalties, Salomon discussed differences within the Democratic Party.

“We’re not a monolithic party. We’re a majority party with large majorities. We have different points of view within the party,” Salomon said.

He described his preferred approach as distinct from either lengthy incarceration or leaving public drug use unaddressed.

“It doesn’t have to be one extreme or the other,” Salomon said. “The caricature of the far right is, well, they want to throw them in jail and a felony for years and years. I don’t want to do that. I also don’t want to just look the other way while these people kill themselves on this drug.”

Salomon returned to his criticism of the legislation’s outcome.

“I don’t think that’s compassion. I don’t think that’s humane,” Salomon said. “I really do think we failed on that piece of legislation to put in the teeth that were required.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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