A council member in Seattle is floating the possibility of providing heroin users with taxpayer-subsidized drugs for use at the city’s proposed mobile safe injection van.
Lawmakers in Seattle are currently debating the best way to set up a safe injection site for those in the city suffering from drug addiction.
Officials at a council meeting Thursday proposed using a mobile van that would serve as an injection site before returning to a secure area in the city every night.
They compared the safe injection van to a medical RV, but said it would be much larger, containing space for consumption booths and recovery areas, reports KIRO.
The proposed safe injection van is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $4 million.
Turning heads, however, is an idea discussed by council member Sally Bagshaw that suggests providing addicts with heroin at the safe injection site.
“I hear from some of my most vocal opponents, that they don’t want their tax money going into buying drugs for people,” said Bagshaw, according to KIRO.
“But I have heard of some other models where drugs are provided. And that’s a public safety model. Because those who may not have the money to buy drugs are not breaking and entering to obtain whatever they need to buy whatever it is they are using. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [contentcards url=”https://www.westernjournal.com/seattle-official-looks-to-combat-opioid-epidemic-by-giving-users-free-drugs/” target=”_blank”]