Renton City Council unanimously passed a resolution on Monday, Aug. 14, banning illegal substance safe injection sites.
The ban is in effect within Renton City limits and within incorporated King County areas associated with the potential annexation areas or urban growth areas of the city.
The vote comes following the final report and recommendations filed by the Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force.
The task force, created last year by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine, recommended creation of two safe-injection sites — one in Seattle and one in another site within county limits.
Renton follows the likes of Bellevue, Federal Way and Auburn in banning safe injection sites.
Mayor Denis Law said there is always the possibility the city can revisit the issue in the future.
“It clearly does not close the door for future consideration if Seattle and King County could prove this made a big difference in terms of addressing the heroin epidemic that’s impacting us,” said Law at the council meeting. “The council’s position today is no way diminishing the seriousness of the epidemic. Everybody knows it is really, really serious. It plays a huge role in the crime that’s impacting society today throughout the country. There are a lot of deaths occurring because of it.”
Council member Ed Prince echoed Law’s statement, saying the council received several emails this week from residents who were concerned.
“The council decided there’s not enough information on what safe injection sites are going to look like yet,” he said. “We wanted to take a wait-and-see approach…. We don’t know much about this yet. We’re opposing it with a resolution, firmly stating our opposition and seeing how it shapes up in the future.”
At the Aug. 14 City Council meeting, several residents came forward who spoke out for and against the ban.
“The reason why I support safe injection sites is because we need a place where people who are addicted can come and safely inject so they’re not out in our neighborhoods, they’re not in our alleys, they’re not near our schools and leaving behind their paraphernalia. This is a public safety thing for our kids, as much as it is for those who are addicted,” said a resident.
“I don’t think this is the place of the government or the city to provide a safe injection facility for an activity that’s basically illegal,” said another resident who was in support of the ban. “They’re bringing substances in there which are not tested. They’re just off-the-street substances…. It places a certain liability on whatever government agency that’s operating the safe injection site.”
The King County Board of Health, an 11-member board of elected officials and doctors, voted unanimously in January to endorse the sites. While there are no facilities in the U.S., Vancouver Coastal Health, a public agency, runs a drug injection site in Vancouver, B.C.
The King County Council voted 5-4 in June to limit the use of county funds for establishing heroin injection sites.
According to the county, 156 heroin-related deaths were recorded 2014, a 58 percent increase from the previous year. More people in King County now enter detox for heroin than they do for alcohol, and starting at younger ages. The number of residents younger than 30 who enter detox nearly doubled between 2006 and 2014.
