Seattle’s Policies Are Killing Drug Addicts
Last month the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the rights of cities to enforce common sense laws which prohibit the homeless from sleeping in public spaces, such as parks or sidewalks where children play or families walk. It’s almost absurd that the Court was forced to expend its limited resources adjudicating a controversy over whether such laws should be constitutional.
It’s time to stop listening to progressive rhetoric that ignores the realities of addiction.
A similarly surreal debate took place last September in my hometown of Seattle. After months of debate, our city council adopted, by a contentious 6 to 3 vote, a policy to enforce laws banning the public use of illicit drugs. Such hesitancy — such inability — of a dark blue city to overcome its moral paralysis and protect residents from deadly drugs might be funny if it weren’t so tragic. (READ MORE: The Risk of Drug Addiction)
I work in downtown Seattle and lived in the heart of the city for years. One day I drove to work and got lucky — I found a parking space near the office. During that short walk I saw things that are completely normal:
- A man laying on his back on the sidewalk, totally high.
- A tent — soiled and half-burned — in a graffiti-covered doorway, undoubtedly reflecting a botched attempt to smoke up.
- Another man, mentally absent with an upside-down-cross tattooed on his forehead and his pants around his knees, waddling down the road as cars carefully avoided him.
- A group of five young men and women, huddled near an alley passing around a drug pipe.
In most American cities, and in most eras of American life, such sights would shock people and immediately incite strong corrective reactions from citizens and law enforcement. But when you see it every day, it has a corrosive effect on the soul. One begins to think it’s not insane for people to live like this — consequence-free. But then you remember: This dystopia didn’t happen by accident. It was caused by progressive politics.
Community Assisted Suicide
In San Fransicko, former progressive activist Michael Shellenberger documents that big blue cities attract homeless because of the unlimited supply of drugs and the zero-consequences policies for being an addict on the streets.
My co-worker at Discovery Institute, journalist Jonathan Choe, has confirmed this through interviews with homeless people posted on his X account. Many openly admit they are not interested in getting housing, help, or clean. They’re content to live on the streets where nobody bothers them, and where stolen merchandise, ill-gotten cash, and illicit drugs flow freely. Progressive activists “help” by supplying brand new tents, so they can stay there, slowly killing themselves on the streets.
Shoplifting is so common that I’ve often seen homeless addict types walk out of stores — from Goodwill to Lowes to Safeway — with goods knowing that there are effectively no penalties if the total value is under about $750. Besides, after Seattle defunded the police in 2020, they don’t have the resources to investigate, enforce, or punish the vast majority of drug-related crimes.
One intersection on my commute — the notorious 12th and Jackson — is Exhibit A for how boosted goods are easily converted into drugs. This area has ready black-market buyers, and plenty of drug dealers, making it easy to sell loot and get a fix. Unless you are committing some violent crime, everyone knows there will likely be zero consequences. So the party continues. (READ MORE: Druggies Vote Too)
But it’s not really a party. These people are living in hell, and progressives’ “mutual aid” is only keeping them in street-addiction as they slowly kill themselves with drugs. Having spent time ministering to people in homeless camps, and witnessing their soul-crushing suffering, I’ve developed a term for the policies which imprison so many in lives of self-destruction: “Community Assisted Suicide.”
Real Compassion
How did Seattle come to adopt so many policies which encourage people to live in squalor, crime, and unabated addiction? It’s not that complicated: It comes down to naïve ideology, liberal guilt, and misunderstandings about human nature.
Seattle is populated with guilt-ridden liberals who believe humans are fundamentally good. This misguided view pushes the lie that people will make good choices if you just improve their circumstances. Never mind that people with addicted brains usually aren’t capable of thinking clearly and making healthy choices — all their brains can fixate upon is getting the next hit. Negative consequences for illegal behavior that wrecks both society and individual lives are viewed as too “judgmental” or “harsh.” Even if people are rotting before our very eyes, we will at least feel good about ourselves.
That’s the other lie that drives community assisted suicide policies — that creating zero-consequence environments somehow makes you compassionate. It doesn’t, because you’re actually inhibiting those most in need of true compassion from receiving help. “Housing first” policies won’t end the daily nightmares these people live in — at best they just mean that community assisted suicides will take place under a roof.
Drug Addiction is ‘Cruel and Unusual’
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson rejected arguments that imposing penalties upon homeless drug addicts is somehow a “cruel and unusual punishment.” Quite the opposite, it’s cruel and unusual to refuse to permit city governments to force people out of hellscapes of addiction.
It’s time to stop listening to progressive rhetoric that ignores the realities of addiction and uncompassionately fosters people destroying their own lives. It’s time to start implementing policies that encourage or force people to get free from drugs and take responsibility for themselves. Only by presenting tough — but insanely obvious — choices like “go to rehab or go to jail,” will many addicts find freedom from the drugs that truly imprison them. I know former addicts who are grateful when society finally forced them to make that choice.
That’s true compassion. It recognizes that a person stuck in addiction needs help — help that broken souls often want deep down, but don’t necessarily have the strength or ability to choose. Only when we stop aiding and abetting community assisted suicide can we finally start making a dent in this homeless crisis.
Casey Luskin is an attorney and Ph.D. scientist working at Discovery Institute in Seattle. He is co-founder of Free a Life South Africa (www.falsa.org.za), an NGO helping drug addicts in Johannesburg. His views are his own.
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