Bellevue bans safe-injection sites for heroin users
The controversial sites endorsed by
The unanimous
Shelter opponents have suggested an injection site might be located on county property next to a shelter proposed for the Eastgate neighborhood, Stokes said. "We really need to get this shelter located," the mayor said. Rumors of a nearby injection facility "impedes discussion of the homeless shelter."
That budget proviso "essentially kills a safe-consumption site anywhere but in
A site wouldn't even be allowed in
If it qualifies, the initiative likely would land on the February ballot as it's too late to make the November ballot under state law.
Resistance seems to have slowed, if not derailed progress on the sites recommended last year by a city-county task force.
Public-health officials
The task force, led by public-health officials, had come up with a 99-page report last September detailing a comprehensive response to the region's opioid crisis. In 2015, 229 deaths in
The task force called for more access to treatment with the medication buprenorphine, more prevention efforts and wider distribution of naloxone, a drug that counteracts overdoses.
It also recommended one safe-injection site in
A local site would be the first in the
County public-health officials are leading the local siting effort. But there is no timeline for picking sites and none has yet been identified, said
With Murray deciding not to seek re-election in the wake of sexual-abuse allegations against him, Apa said he expects the process of selecting a
"The mayor's race and everything scrambled the process," said
All leading contenders to replace Murray said they supported safe-injection sites.
Political flashpoint
Before
The contest for the open seat -- created by the death last year of Republican
In recent years, a Republican coalition has held the
When asked in the recent online forum if an injection site was coming to
That led
Dhingra then clarified her statement, saying she had participated in a candidate forum where a similar question came up "and a South County location like
It was Nyrop who said that at a recent
The initiative campaign has been partly funded by major donors to Republican campaigns including
Schipper maintains the initiative is not partisan and its supporters include
It is "absolutely the type of thing that's been a wedge issue that allows suburban
But it's not enough to win legislative seats, he said, because safe-injection is so overshadowed by news about
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