Pubdate: Thu, 13 Aug 2009
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2009 The Stranger
Contact:  http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241
Author: Jonah Spangenthal-Lee

DEALING WITH DEALERS

The City Is Finally Looking at Alternatives to the War on Drugs

In a stunning move by the city, and an acknowledgment that we cannot 
arrest our way out of a drug problem, the Seattle Police Department, 
King County prosecutors, and the city attorney's office have 
announced plans for a program to get street dealing out of Seattle's 
neighborhoods.

The Drug Market Initiative (DMI), based on a program in High Point, 
North Carolina, aims to provide social services to low-level street 
dealers, instead of simply arresting and jailing them. The program 
will focus on the 23rd Avenue corridor in the Central District, home 
to several open-air drug markets.

On August 6, the city held its first intervention, inviting 18 street 
dealers-along with their families, community members, and nonprofit 
groups-to the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in the Central 
District to talk about the impact their dealing has had on the 
neighborhood. Dealers were presented with evidence collected against 
them during buy busts and video surveillance over the last few 
months, and they were told they could either quit dealing or go to jail.

While police and neighbors say dealers were generally receptive to 
the program and offer of services, prosecutors could file charges 
against two of the participants later this week. Of the 18 dealers 
offered clemency through the DMI, one failed to show up to the 
intervention and another was busted for dealing the next day.

If the program goes well, the city says it will survey neighbors in 
the next three or four months and look at expanding it to other 
neighborhoods in Seattle affected by the drug trade.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart