Delighted Seattle drug addicts hail 'cool' new mayor who'll let people shoot up on streets... as woman in lawless city details horrifying way she earns money for substances | Retrui News | Retrui
Delighted Seattle drug addicts hail 'cool' new mayor who'll let people shoot up on streets... as woman in lawless city details horrifying way she earns money for substances
SOURCE:Daily Mail
Seattle drug abusers heaped praise on Mayor Katie Wilson when asked about her soft-touch policies by the Daily Mail.
Seattle drug addicts have praised the city's new mayor for allegedly telling cops not to arrest people doing illegal substances on the crime-ridden city's streets.
One 36-year-old local, who gave his name as Brandon, told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that Mayor Katie Wilson is 'cool' after her office and Seattle's progressive city attorney Erika Evans reportedly plotted to avoid prosecuting most public drugs use cases.
Brandon, who lives on the streets because he prefers them to his taxpayer-funded apartment, said of Wilson's new plans: 'They tried to do that already during Covid. We went buck wild! I'm not gonna lie. We blew it up.'
Clearly excited by a return to the lawless summer of 2020 when a huge swathe of downtown Seattle was taken over by anarchists, fentanyl and meth user Brandon said the government 'should not be going around and telling everybody what to f**king do.'
Wilson, 43, was inaugurated as Democrat mayor this month and promptly accused of telling Seattle Police not to arrest people for taking illegal drugs in public.
She denied doing so, but works directly with Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans, who has made it much harder for police to charge illegal drug users.
A memo filed by Evans on January 1 says anyone arrested for doing drugs in public must be referred to the city's 'LEAD' diversion program, which tries to offer addicts treatment.
Evans, who is also a Democrat, added that only users whose circumstances are very 'acute or problematic' should be referred to her office.
Seattle resident Brandon told the Daily Mail that the city's new Mayor Katie Wilson is 'cool,' after she allegedly directed the city's police not to arrest people for public drug use
Seattle's iconic Space Needle and Museum of Pop Culture were blighted by tent encampments when the Daily Mail visited this week. Some locals say vagrancy has increased in recent weeks in anticipation of the city's progressive new mayor turning a blind eye
Open air drug use in Seattle is an ongoing issue that seems to have spread to all areas of the city
Drug paraphernalia is seen on the sidewalk of an encampment
And she hasn't even promised to file charges against those users, saying instead that her prosecutors would consult again with LEAD officers before making a final decision.
The woke pair's policymaking harks back to the dark days of the early 2020's, when cities including San Francisco and Portland tried the same experiment, which they branded 'harm reduction.'
It backfired badly and prompted an explosion in crime, homelessness and filth on city streets, with both San Francisco and Portland later rescinding those policies.
Seattle Police Department told the Daily Mail that they support the new charging policies.
But Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) - the police union which represents all 1,300 of the city's cops - has blasted the new soft-on-drugs approach as an example of 'suicidal empathy', with residents' quality of life already taking a dive.
The famously-green city, which is home to the headquarters of Amazon and Microsoft, has seen an escalation in the number of ugly homeless encampments springing up since Wilson won a mayoral election in November.
And their occupants were open with the Daily Mail about the drugs and vagrancy free-for-all they're excitedly anticipating.
Speaking from the tent where she lives in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood, 45-year-old Vanessa said she sold her body to pay for drugs.
'Sometimes it is a sex trade. Sometimes it is food dinners, like, we'll, um, buy food an they cook it.'
A drug addict called Vanessa told the Daily Mail that she sells her body to pay for drugs
Vanessa spoke to the Daily Mail from the tent where she lives with four men, which was littered with drug paraphernalia
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson (left) has been accused of working with Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans (right) to make it harder to charge locals with doing illegal drugs in public
The drug crisis in the city is reaching new heights, and open air drug use is a common sight
People are often seen folded over after using drugs in the streets
Vanessa spoke close to an open fire lit at the edge of the tent which she shares with four other men, who were seen slumped over.
She arrived in Downtown Seattle from neighboring Tacoma a year ago.
Seattle native Tanner Denny, 35, says he has also turned to prostitution to help keep him remain high - and finds clients on Tinder.
‘I go on Tinder and I show people my d**k,’ he bluntly admitted to the Daily Mail.
Denny has pitched his tent in front of Seattle's iconic Space Needle - the city's most famous tourist attraction, which is now blighted by squalor and homelessness.
Denny also had kind words for Wilson's plan to turn a blind eye towards open drug taking, saying: 'People have enough problems already' adding that he thought it was a good idea to have fewer police officers tackling the problem.
The vagrant, who spoke to the Daily Mail while puffing on fentanyl, offered an eye-opening insight into just how hard it is to get in trouble for doing narcotics in Seattle.
‘They've tried to charge me three times and they've failed three times,' he said.
'I have always defended myself,’ he said, smoking fentanyl with a friend in broad daylight while perched on a rain-dampened curb.
He said that most users know to only have a personal amount of dope on them - not enough for authorities to care about.
‘They’ll take you to jail overnight, but they’ll usually say, “This is the 16th time we’ve arrested this guy for the same thing, let’s just get him right home,”’ he continued.
Seattle's top prosecutor Erika Evans sent this memo out to police revealing the hoops she expects investigators to jump through before they can charge people with doing illegal drugs in public
Homeless fentanyl user Tanner Denny says he sells his body for $20-a-time to pay for drugs
Denny, pictured with Daily Mail reporter Sonya Gugliara, said he was glad Seattle's new mayor Katie Wilson is reportedly planning to turn a blind eye to public use of illegal drugs
Denny has pitched his tent in front of Seattle's iconic Space Needle - the city's most famous tourist attraction, which is now blighted by squalor and homelessness
Homeless addicts in wheelchairs try to stay warm in downtown Seattle earlier this week
A woman walks along a public road in Seattle whose edges have been overrun with tens now occupied by the city's homeless
‘They really don’t care about it. They’ll let you go.’
Denny said the 'diversion programs' being offered to Seattle addicts that see them ordered to enter rehab to avoid criminal charges do not work.
But he also said that arresting people does not work, as it usually just introduces them to other addicts who can offer a potential future supply.
Denny recently left rehab and said he 'was doing pretty good' - until the anything-goes atmosphere of Seattle sent him flying off the wagon.
‘But drugs are so cheap now,’ he said, explaining that fentanyl costs $5 a pill.
‘It’s so, so cheap, it should be illegal,’ he concluded, seemingly unaware of the irony.
When the Daily Mail visited Seattle this week, its downtown, Beacon Hill, South of Downtown (SODO) and Chinatown neighborhoods were all filled with drug users on street corners, in bus stops and huddled in doorways.
A particular intersection in Chinatown - Jackson Avenue and 12th Street - is particularly notorious.
Seattle's famous Pike Place food market is devoid of vagrants and drug abusers - but you only have to walk a few blocks before you're surrounded by squalor and despair
A Seattle man with a pipe in his mouth was seen sprawled inside a bus stop in the city. Many of Seattle's amenities are unusable to members of the general public because they've been overrun by vagrants
A man wrapped in a blanket is seen doubled over in Seattle. The city's police union warned that a new policy that aims to 'divert' drug users towards rehab instead of arresting them is 'suicidal empathy'
While famed for its natural beauty, many of the photos showing Seattle at its best do not convey the reality of the city in 2026
With groups of people blatantly abusing drugs in the neighborhood - unafraid to steal to support their habits - businesses are in despair.
Mary Tran, 50, an employee of 10 years at Ngoc Tri, a jewelry store right across from the high-crime corner, said in the last couple of months - as far-left Wilson ran her campaign - the situation has turned dire.
Inside the shop, which opened about 25 years ago, all the display cases are empty and covered with paper.
To even enter, customers must be buzzed in through three doors.
‘We have to have an iron gate, iron door - bulletproof,’ Tran said. ‘We’re living in a prison.’
She continued: ‘There’s a lot of drug activity going on, a lot of homelessness everywhere. Camping right in front of our store, peeing, pooping, everything right in front of the store.
‘It’s been getting worse over the last few months but the past two years have been bad. The cops won’t come, I don’t even call them anymore.’
While a cop car was parked right by the corner when the Daily Mail visited the area, it hardly deterred any illicit behavior.
Views of Seattle's skyline are now blighted by ugly tent encampments filled with the city's homeless
Another photo of a similar view - but anyone hoping a snap of greenery, water and skyscrapers will likely have their view spoiled by vagrants
Outreach workers like Andrea Suarez (pictured) work to help Seattle's homeless people - but the task they face is insurmountable
Pike Place's iconic neon sign with Puget Sound in the background. But Seattle is now better known for squalor and chaos than its stunning natural beauty
People seemed to briefly disperse from the area, but returned soon after.
‘It’s at the point where I’m giving up,’ she said, noting that she has been followed home multiple times from work - with thieves trying to attack her about three months ago and police being useless in protecting her.
Tran said she has no hope for the city with Wilson in office. ‘I heard so many promises in the past, and nothing ever changes.’
Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market - swarmed with visitors eager to try its fresh fish and local produce - has not been spared from the crisis.
While the market itself has been cleared of the drug-fueled zombies, as locals have described, they remain as fixtures on the surrounding streets.
But the rampant drug use and the city’s apparent lack of intervention have even gone too far for some people who remain on the street.
Sean Burke, 43, who sat on the pavement with a sign begging for cash, said the mayor should put a stop to the open-air drug use that she claims she does not condone - despite what anyone who frequents the area would say.
After life’s many twists and turns, battling addiction and serving jail time, Burke has found himself trying to pick up the pieces of his life in Seattle for about eight years.
Even the presence of police cars does little to deter users
Drug users shared their stories as they weighed in on the crisis in Seattle
Seattle is famed for its gorgeous natural setting, including Mount Rainier (pictured). But nature's wonders now have to compete with human squalor on an unimaginable scale
He has been in an outpatient drug treatment for several months, telling the Daily Mail he has been clean for weeks, but it is difficult to stay sober.
‘Everything is so readily available, just shoved in your face so blatantly out here,’ he said, panhandling near a McDonald’s so crime-ridden that it has been dubbed ‘McStabby’s.’
Knowing the perils of addiction, he asserted that police officers turning a blind eye to the chaos is detrimental.
‘I think there should be a line drawn, you know, somewhere along the way. It shouldn't just be a blatant look the other way, you know,’ he said.
‘There are kids out here, there are families out here. There's so much other stuff going on in the city. They don't need to see that sh*t.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Mayor Katie Wilson, Seattle Police Department and the Seattle Police Officer's Guild for comment. Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans sent us a copy of her memo to police about how to deal with illegal drug users.