12 mayors, 3 GOP lawmakers and Gov. Ferguson’s office to meet fentanyl families in Kent Thursday
Oct 7, 2026, 4:08 PM
People meet in an office. (Photo: monkeybusiness via Envato)
(Photo: monkeybusiness via Envato)
It’s easy to argue about addiction policy. It’s a lot harder to sit across from a family fentanyl has torn apart and explain why we still can’t find common ground.
Thursday night in Kent, Art Dahlen is putting those families and the people who make policy in the same room, and he’s asking everyone to listen.
Battlefield Addiction’s “Hey Bob! We Need Your Help” event will bring together 12 local mayors, three state lawmakers, a representative from Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office, and families living with addiction. Dahlen invited people from across the political spectrum, and that’s on purpose. It starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Kent-Meridian High School Performing Arts Center, and it’s free.
Despite the name, Dahlen told me this isn’t a shot at the governor.
“We need your help, and we need leadership on this issue,” Dahlen said. “We need cohesive, long-term drug policy that makes sense in Washington State.”
Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office sends a representative to the Kent fentanyl forum
The governor’s office confirmed to Dahlen that Robert Boenish, its King County regional representative, will attend on Ferguson’s behalf. According to an updated event advisory, Boenish plans to hear concerns from constituents and bring what he learns back to the governor’s office.
That gives families a direct line to Olympia. What the governor’s office does with it is the next test.
The confirmed mayors are Dana Ralph of Kent, Mark Mullet of Issaquah, Eric Zimmerman of Normandy Park, Terry Carter of Bonney Lake, Carla Bowman of Sumner, Vic Kave of Pacific, Armondo Pavone of Renton, John Adler of Black Diamond, Anthony Wright of Enumclaw, Mohamed Egal of SeaTac, Thomas McLeod of Tukwila, and Mary Miller of North Bend.
Washington mayors run in nonpartisan races, and this group spans the political spectrum. Issaquah Mayor Mark Mullet served in the state Senate as a Democrat and ran against Ferguson for governor in 2024.
Three Republican state representatives are also expected: Chris Corry of Yakima, Travis Couture of Allyn, and Jim Walsh of Aberdeen, who also chairs the Washington State Republican Party. Dahlen said he invited lawmakers from both parties.
Auburn Deputy Mayor Tracy Taylor-Turner, several candidates for office, community leaders, and families affected by addiction round out the list.
Art Dahlen on addiction treatment: ‘If you think you’re right, you’re probably wrong’
I hear from family members every time we talk about addiction. Parents. Siblings. People who love someone they’re afraid they’re going to lose. Fentanyl and meth are ruining their lives, straining their relationships, and splitting their families apart.
They need more than another argument about which treatment philosophy has it right.
Dahlen has long championed abstinence-based recovery. When we talked, he made clear he’s not asking everyone to sign on to one approach. He’s asking people, himself included, to be willing to learn.
“We need to also respect each other, and I have to do a better job as a leader respecting all sides of this argument, too,” Dahlen said.
He’s spent time studying approaches outside his own and found plenty that work.
“What makes sense can we take, and what doesn’t make sense can we get rid of,” he said.
Then he turned that message on the people who already agree with him.
“In some aspects, we’re wrong, too,” Dahlen said. “When you’re dealing with addiction, if you think you’re right, you’re probably wrong.”
Addiction has layers, he said, and peeling them back shows it’s different for everyone. If that’s true, the response has to be different for everyone too.
“We do harm reduction, we do abstinence-based, we do medication-assisted treatment,” Dahlen said. “What fits that individual the best? And does that equate a pathway to independence?”
A long-term Washington drug policy that outlasts any governor
Dahlen wants a drug policy built to last no matter who’s in office, something families can count on through election after election.
“We can put a long-term policy together that supersedes who’s in office,” he said.
Battlefield Addiction is bringing its own priorities to the table. The group wants enforcement against open-air drug use, theft, and dealing. It supports holding people accountable for possession and theft while connecting them to strong diversion programs, along with tougher penalties for fentanyl dealers. It wants children protected from fentanyl in their homes, and it opposes government agencies handing out foil and other supplies used to smoke the drug.
Those are Battlefield Addiction’s positions, and not everyone in that auditorium will share them. The test is whether people can work through their differences without losing sight of the families who need help.
I asked Dahlen whether the leaders on stage would be expected to listen to each other instead of talking past each other.
“Well, it’s going to be mandatory,” he said. “How do we take this out of the political arena and put it where it needs to be: in the hearts of these family members?”
Art Dahlen’s recovery story: ‘I’ve been the guy that destroyed his family’
Dahlen wants people to leave Thursday night with something else: hope that someone they love can come back. He knows it can happen, because he spent more than a dozen years addicted to opiates.
“I think we need to give people more credit, especially people that are suffering from drug abuse issues on our streets,” he said. “Every person on the streets, we believe, can recover fully.”
Not everyone gets there, he acknowledged. Recovery is hard. But he’s watched people others had written off rebuild their lives, and he’s lived it himself.
“I’ve been the guy that destroyed his family, and had holidays ruined and all that,” Dahlen said. “And now I’m the leader of my family, and the one bringing people together.”
“There’s nothing more beautiful than seeing a family in the ruins of this, and to watch that family come out and smile and be together,” he added.
Whatever path gets someone there, Dahlen said, the goal should be the same.
“Isn’t the outcome that we want that a person suffering from substance abuse ends up a productive member of society? Isn’t that the story everybody wants?”
How to attend the Kent fentanyl forum Thursday
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Kent-Meridian High School Performing Arts Center, 10020 SE 256th St. in Kent. The event starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, and registration is requested at Battlefield Addiction’s event page.
The auditorium holds 350 people, and Dahlen said it’s filling fast. He wants you there anyway.
“Come get the vibe of what we’re doing and feel the positivity in what we’re doing,” he said.
I’ve asked him for an after-action report. I’ll let you know what I hear.
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
