Answer Addiction

Tag: Seattle

  • Seattle Grapples With How To Handle Repeat Offenders With Mental Illness

    Seattle Grapples With How To Handle Repeat Offenders With Mental Illness

    Seattle’s mayor says that the city and state both need to step up and find a better solution for handling repeat offenders with mental illness. 

    Seattle’s mental health crisis—intertwined with homelessness and drug abuse—has become not only a matter of public health, but public safety as well. Recent attacks on innocent strangers have highlighted the growing problem.

    Crime against people is up 43% from 2016, according to the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), which echoes the city’s own figures.

    According to NPR, part of the problem lies in not knowing how to deal with repeat offenders who are living with mental illness.

    In March, a man named Jonathan James Wilson was charged with attempted assault for grabbing a woman he did not know and attempting to throw her off of a 40-foot-high overpass. Wilson, who was homeless, had been arrested three times since September 2018 for assaulting strangers.

    According to KIRO, a Seattle Municipal Court judge decided to dismiss all of the assault charges “by reason of incompetency” after Wilson was given a mental health competency evaluation.

    Mental Health Revolving Door

    Just last Tuesday (July 9), 29-year-old Christopher Morisette was arrested for randomly stabbing three people in the downtown area, including a valet worker. It was later reported that Morisette, too, was a repeat offender. Since 2009 he has had 34 cases filed against him, according to the Seattle Times.

    Morisette received a diagnosis of unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and unspecified substance use disorder, according to a forensic mental health report on his condition. Police say he reported using methamphetamine on the day of the recent attacks, and that he had no memory of the time between July 4 and his arrest.

    His mother, Susan Morisette, told the Times that her son has been through a “mental-health revolving door” in the last decade—repeating the cycle of going to jail, receiving help, then becoming unstable again. “It’s hard to get my hopes up when he’s doing well because I know it’s not going to last,” said Morisette.

    Examples like these illustrate what Seattle is facing in terms of homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness.

    Underfunded Programs

    Following the attacks by Morisette, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said, “I think what this incident this morning shows is we know we have severely underfunded and are unable to deal with significant mental health needs, and we have to do better as a city, county and state,” she said according to KOMO News.

    City Attorney Pete Holmes says Seattle is struggling to provide the necessary support to combat this problem. “We’re finding out that the system is really at its maximum,” he said, according to NPR. “I think the judge and I even agree on that—that those services really are at their limit.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Seattle Not Intimidated By Threats Against Supervised Injection Facilities

    Seattle Not Intimidated By Threats Against Supervised Injection Facilities

    “We took note of what the DOJ wrote about this, but we believe strongly in a public health approach to substance abuse disorder,” Mayor Durkan said. 

    The city of Seattle will move forward with plans to open a supervised injection facility (SIF), despite the possibility that the federal government will intervene, KUOW reports.

    Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan affirmed on Sept. 20 that the city will proceed despite the Department of Justice’s promise to respond with “swift and aggressive action.”

    In a New York Times op-ed published in August, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made clear the federal government’s opposition to SIFs, declaring that they will “only make the opioid crisis worse.”

    “Because federal law clearly prohibits injection sites, cities and counties should expect the Department of Justice to meet the opening of any injection site with swift and aggressive action,” wrote Rosenstein.

    But city officials and proponents say Seattle and greater King County need “an aggressive, comprehensive approach” to the drug crisis as drug-related deaths rise. According to a recent report by Seattle & King County Public Health, drug and alcohol-related deaths have increased for six consecutive years in King County.

    “We took note of what the Department of Justice wrote about this, we’re cognizant of it, but we believe strongly in a public health approach to substance abuse disorder,” said Mayor Durkan.

    Last Monday, Durkan released a proposed budget that would set aside $1.3 million to fund the SIF pilot program. “You’ll see in the budget that we will continue to work for safe injection sites,” said the mayor. “We want this to be part of a holistic system of treatment.” The final vote on whether to adopt the budget is set for mid-November, following budget proposal hearings in October.

    Last we heard, the plan was to establish two supervised injection facilities—one in Seattle and one elsewhere in King County. The idea came from a list of recommendations on how to best address the region’s drug problem presented by the county’s Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force in 2016.

    KUOW reports that Seattle officials are seeking a location “likely downtown or in Belltown” for the SIF, in addition to a mobile unit that will serve the same purpose. However, Durkan said they are still working on the “framework” with the county before they can set a location. 

    While opponents say the sites will do more harm than good, proponents say that they save lives and increase the probability of connecting people with treatment.

    “Treatment is really the main bottom line that we’re trying to promote as the most effective, you know, population-wide intervention,” said Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for King County. “We want people getting in long-term treatment. And this is just one doorway that we can use to get people into treatment.”

    View the original article at thefix.com