The Seattle City Council voted Tuesday evening not to pass legislation that would have allowed the City Attorney's Office to prosecute public drug use cases.
The ordinance, sponsored by Councilmembers Sara Nelson and Alex Pedersen, would have brought Seattle into compliance with the state's new drug possession law, which makes the crime a gross misdemeanor and goes into effect July 1.
The council bill failed to pass in a 5-4 vote. Councilmembers Pedersen, Nelson, Debora Juarez and Dan Strauss voted in favor of the bill. Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Kshama Sawant, Teresa Mosqueda, Andrew Lewis and Tammy Morales voted in opposition to the bill.
"State law without the local law is like a train without tracks, a car without keys, it's a pen without ink," said Pedersen. "You have to have them together or else it's basically tantamount to decriminalizing."
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