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I'm Paris Jackson.

A new report from the King County Department of Public Defense shows how an ordinance designed to push people into drug treatment has instead resulted in the criminal prosecution of hundreds of them.

The report found that in the first half of 2025, there were more than double the prosecutions for drug crimes than there were in all of 2024, in the city of Seattle.

Multimedia journalist Jaelynn Grisso explains the complexities behind the unsettling data.

-Both Seattle city officials and the King County Public Defence office agree.

The ultimate goal for folks using drugs in public is to come to a facility like Evergreen Treatment Center to receive substance use treatment.

But they disagree on how these efforts are going and what it means that some folks are ending up with criminal charges instead.

A new report from King County Public Defense argues that the city's approach to drug policy is not only ineffective, but harmful.

About two years ago, Seattle City Council passed an ordinance criminalizing public drug use following similar legislation passed in the state House.

Mayor Bruce Harrell pushed for the ordinance, saying that success will not be measured by how many people cycle through jail and instead will be measured by connections to lifesaving treatment.

As far as the mayor's office is concerned, it's working as intended in tandem with the nonprofit led Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD team, that was created in 2011.

-The ordinance has done exactly what we intended.

It allowed us to build out, again, a diversionary, diversionary model, that is really based in a public health approach.

-The report found 215 people were prosecuted on drug use or possession charges in the two years since the ordinance passed.

Only six of those received treatment.

The city says that focusing on those 200 folks doesn't show the whole picture.

-LEAD has diverted over 600 people.

Just from that model and those that consist of officers in terms of arrest diversions, sending people to LEAD and also social contact referrals.

So referrals from the community to say these people need help.

-Director of King County Department of Public Defense Matthew Sanders says that doesn't negate the folks who were prosecuted.

-You see similarly situated people, charged with simple drug possession or drug use.

That's it.

And they're being booked into jail.

They're being prosecuted.

They're being, you know, like they have the threat of jail hanging over their head.

-The report also showed a racial gap in those that are prosecuted.

It shows that black folks are four times more likely to be prosecuted under this ordinance, compared to white folks.

However, Walton Anderson said it's worth noting that about half of the folks that went through the LEAD program are black or brown.

The city argues there are several reasons why the city attorney's office might choose to prosecute.

-You know, they could have been diverted previously.

They could not be receptive to services at this time.

That doesn't mean that later down the road they wouldn't be.

But not everybody is ready for services when they are offered.

-Walton Anderson said it could be because they were ineligible for diversion for reasons like an outstanding warrant or other charges.

But that doesn't seem to be the majority of the cases.

According to the DPD report, which found that about 70% of those charges were only for drug crimes.

For Sanders, the gap between those diverted and those prosecuted means the ordinance isn't working.

-I would suggest that that's not a sign of success.

It, you know, like because it provides no explanation for why 25% of the community is being deprived of this opportunity and why they're being treated like criminals.

-In Seattle, Jaelynn Grisso, Cascade PBS.

I'm Paris Jackson, thank you for watching The Newsfeed, your destination for nonprofit Northwest news.

Go to CascadePBS.org for more.