‘A snapshot of failure’: Jake, Spike question Seattle’s dog overdose prevention efforts

Seattle dog owners are being warned about pet fentanyl exposure after pamphlets on overdose treatment were distributed across the city.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, pointed to what they see as a failure of state leadership, one that has resulted in overdose prevention pamphlets for dogs rather than enforcement of drug laws

“This is a story that I think will make people mad and annoyed,” Jake said. “Isn’t that just sad that that’s what the city has devolved into? I mean, that’s a snapshot of like failure. It’s like a nightmare child’s drawing. A sweet little puppy with a syringe in its mouth.”

“It’s heartbreaking. This is a necessary pamphlet, and I hope it’s helpful. It’s a shame that it’s necessary,” Spike responded.

The root of the pet overdose problem

The pamphlets are being widely distributed to homeless individuals with pets, but also to citizens with pets who frequent Seattle parks.

“I assume that they’re talking about dogs who find pieces of leftover wrappers or things that might have some substance on them,” Jake said. “These are not dogs who are turning over to a life of drugs. These are not dogs who are depressed.”

“If someone is using drugs and they have a pet, that’s an irresponsible pet owner, or it could be innocent pet owners where the pets come across these in a park, on a sidewalk, or an encampment,” Spike said. “The fact that we have refuge of drug use, rampant in the city, on our sidewalks, and in our parks is reprehensible.”

Spike noted that Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s policies have a concerted focus on homelessness, but not on drug addiction, a gap he believes has real consequences

“I know that the new mayor, Katie Wilson, has made homelessness a priority of her administration,” Spike said. “The drug addiction or mental health issues aren’t as much of a paramount problem when you have that type of, I don’t call it a relaxed attitude toward addiction, but you don’t prioritize addiction as highly as I think you should. These are the side effects of these policies. Maybe this little pup is what could win the mayor over.”

Jake offered a solution that required crackdowns on drug use at Seattle’s parks, stating that enforcing drug laws would be much more beneficial than handing out pamphlets to try to save dogs.

“The best way would be if they just didn’t allow people to do drugs in the parks. I would start there,” he said. “I would not start with, like, printing up and handing out how to get your dog CPR, because they’ve eaten discarded foil on the ground, I would just start arresting people for doing illegal drugs. You’ve called them illegal, and then you allow people to do them, so that it doesn’t seem very legal to me.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.