‘They want to change their lives’: Sara Nelson advocates for prioritizing drug addiction treatment

Seattle City Council President Sarah Nelson introduced a resolution asking the city to allocate a portion of the new sales tax for drug treatment and mental health counseling.

Nelson spoke about her deeply rooted awareness of Seattle’s drug and mental health epidemic on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Sara Nelson’s drug treatment initiative

“For this initiative, I’m talking about up to 25% of $35-40 million. Let’s say $10 million, just to round it up,” Nelson said. “I want to be clear that we have not raised the sales tax yet, but it’s anticipated that Seattle will take advantage of that opportunity, because the legislature gave the authority for cities to do that.”

Nelson is working to allocate funds toward support for Seattle’s drug and mental health crisis, and will provide treatment, namely rehab, for the city’s homeless population.

“The bill that was passed in Washington, HB 2015, would raise the 1.1% for public safety, but it is defined broadly in the bill to include behavioral health,” Nelson said. “It might even say treatment as well.”

House Bill 2015 established a grant program that includes $100 million for public safety within the legislature’s 2025-2027 operating budget.

“How’s it going? You’re pushing the rock up the hill. Is it going to stay?” Curley asked. “Will this go through, and then what metrics will you use to determine if it’s working or not, and adjust how to provide treatment?”

“I’m pushing this rock up the hill for this reason, because the fentanyl epidemic and addiction in general are inextricably linked to our chronic homelessness and our public safety problems in Seattle,” Nelson answered. “By focusing more on treatment, we would be addressing two problems at once. The city has to start focusing on treatment and not keep deferring this critical investment.”

There have been 494 fatal drug overdoses in King County so far in 2025, and an additional 34 probable overdoses pending toxicology reports, according to the King County database.

Drug treatment program cost

“What does it cost, on average, to take somebody homeless and drug addicted into a program that leads to the point where the drugs are not part of their life every day?” Curley asked.

“A month of inpatient treatment is about $15,000. Then, you should have aftercare and counseling, etc.,” Nelson said. “That’s pretty cheap when you consider some of the activity that these folks are engaged in, and also the fact that a lot of people are dying right and left from fentanyl. So I think that it’s money very well spent.”

King County nearly doubled its count of fatal drug overdoses between 2021 (710) and 2023 (1,340). Additionally, 1,086 of the fatal overdoses in 2023 were a result of fentanyl.

“Treatment works better if they want help. The fact that treatment is available on demand makes all the difference,” Nelson said. “Your listeners would be surprised how many people out there are using and want to change their lives, but there aren’t the resources available.”

According to the United Recovery Project, fentanyl addiction treatment, including medication-assisted treatment and intensive counseling, returns a 25-35% success rate.

“We’re not talking about forcing people into treatment. We are responding to people who are sick of it; they’re tired of overdosing,” Nelson said. “They want to change their lives. They just don’t know what the next steps are.”

The success rate for alcohol addiction is listed as a 50-60% success rate, which includes the duration of treatment, aftercare programs, and family involvement.

“Do you believe the mayor will help you, or the rest of the council will say, ‘Yes, let’s go along with Sarah Nelson’s idea. We’ll slice off a chunk of that and we’ll see how it goes.’ Are you succeeding?” Curley asked.

“We do have a pretty big deficit next year. I think it’s $240 million or something, but what I’m talking about is, if you spend the money on some treatment now, you’re not spending the money on arresting someone for committing a crime, because they’re trying to support their habit,” Nelson said.

Listen to the full conversation below.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jcurleyshow