Bellingham mayor wants public drug use criminalized. Here’s what the City Council said
More work is needed on Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood’s plan to criminalize public use of illegal drugs and create a special court to help people beat addiction, the City Council decided unanimously.
In a committee meeting Monday afternoon, City Council members said they agreed with the intent of Fleetwood’s proposed ordinance, but that they wanted to hear more details about a so-called “therapeutic court” for people who are arrested for drug use.
In a 6-0 vote, with Councilman Michael Lilliquist absent, the council asked Fleetwood to develop more solid plans.
“I(Downtown business owners) think this is going to fix the issue, and it’s not,” aid Councilwoman Lisa Anderson.
“It’s putting the cart before the horse. We don’t have the therapeutic court developed. We don’t have the resources in place,” Anderson said.
“We can’t arrest ourselves out of this. We don’t have the treatment. We don’t have the housing,” she said.
Councilman Dan Hammill agreed, saying that similar programs that he has championed — such as the Alternate Response Team and the GRACE and LEAD programs for frequent users of emergency services and low-level offenders — required months of planning.
“When we’re dealing with human beings, and we have to do so with care,” Hammill said.
Fleetwood proposed the ordinance in an announcement on the city’s website March 8, and it was on the agenda for consideration Monday.
The same way that public use of alcohol and marijuana are restricted, the proposed ordinance would ban illegal drug use in public, making public use of a controlled substance a misdemeanor subject to arrest, according a statement released by the city March 8.
It was intended to help curb crime, vandalism and other issues plaguing downtown, he said.
“In recent weeks, we’ve had an increase of concerns voiced by downtown merchants and community members about the state of things on our downtown,” Fleetwood said at Monday’s committee session.
“We’re not suggesting this as a cure-all. It’s another tool in the toolkit to address open use. I think we need to find a way to disrupt this activity,” he said.
He said he proposed the new ordinance because of the 2021 Supreme Court decision in State v. Blake that limits the power of police to arrest people for drug use.
Along with criminalizing illegal drug use, Fleetwood’s measure would create a “therapeutic court” where people arrested for using drugs could be quickly steered into supervised rehab, and help them find jobs and housing.
Bellingham Municipal Court Judge Debra Lev told the City Council that the proposed new process would resemble the mental health and drug courts that have proven successful in Whatcom County and elsewhere.
“Therapeutic courts need to be the norm rather than the exception. We already have a well-established mental-health court in Bellingham Municipal. It’s working and it’s making a positive impact on not only on the individuals that participate in it but also the public at large,” Lev said.
There’s an emphasis on community service, she said.
“I know that it’s going to take a lot of work. But jail doesn’t change behavior, and we’ve seen from the models across the country and in our own state, that this does (create) change,” Lev said.
City Council members all said they supported the measure’s intent, but that they weren’t ready to enact an ordinance until details of how the proposed therapeutic court are in place, along with personnel to help people stop using drugs.
“They won’t be going to (Whatcom) County Jail, let’s be clear,” Hammill said.
Because of jail crowding and COVID-19 restrictions, only people facing serious crimes are being booked.
‘I fully support the downtown merchants,” Hammill said.
“(But ) I don’t understand the leverage on the misdemeanor (drug) charge. I don’t know if that’s enough for a person to say, ‘OK, I’m ready to change,’” he said.
