The Washington state Democrats’ willingness to enable drug addiction has reached a new low. Instead of confronting a growing crisis in which children overdose or die in homes contaminated with fentanyl and meth, Democrats are offering lockboxes to drug-addicted parents.
It’s difficult to decide which is more tragic: this “solution” or their failure to act when children’s lives are on the line.
A law passed in 2021 prohibits the state from removing children from their homes solely because their parents are drug addicts. Furthermore, children could not be removed solely because of poverty, inadequate housing, or a parent’s mental illness, unless it was clearly linked to imminent danger.
Democrats complained that Black families were being separated at a disproportionate rate due to drug addiction. This was a lazy way for activist lawmakers to claim that a policy is racist.
Democrats also argued that this law would de-stigmatize drug addiction and reduce trauma for children by keeping families together and providing support services through the state’s child protective services.
The reality is that the law, which went into effect in 2023, was a death sentence for all children in the state. As I explain in my book “What’s Killing America: Inside the Radical Left’s Tragic Destruction of Our Cities,” the statistics speak for themselves.
According to a recent report, deaths or near-deaths among children in families with a drug-addicted parent under the supervision of child protective services have increased by 114% in the four years since the law was passed.
In 2023, 70 children in state care died or nearly died as a result of an overdose, primarily caused by fentanyl. According to a state ombudsman report, 45 out of 67 incidents involving accidental drug ingestions involved children aged 11 or younger.
Even when confronted with these harrowing statistics as a direct result of their legislation, Washington Democrats refused to change course. They doubled down, proudly supporting a lockbox initiative, or “harm reduction” policy.
Harm reduction is presented as a strategy for reducing the risks of illicit substance abuse by providing paraphernalia that allows users to continue using in a “safer” manner. It’s little more than taxpayer-funded drug enabling.
Washington state distributes drug lockboxes so that parents can safely store their fentanyl or meth, as if this will protect a child living in such a setting. The state does not track how many lockboxes are distributed to drug-addicted parents, but admits it is a large number.
It’s all very insulting. A lockbox will not keep children from inhaling fentanyl smoke that lingers in the air or touching contaminated surfaces before consuming fentanyl. It will not protect kids from needles, drug paraphernalia, or neglect by parents who are too high to function.
This sounds absurd, and it is. However, the state, through agencies such as the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), has made it clear that they prioritize appeasing far-left activists over saving lives.
“We don’t want to be punitive,” they explain. Instead of holding parents accountable and removing children from dangerous situations, they’re handing out glorified fentanyl Tupper wares.
And they’re doing it despite a DCYF ombuds report stating unequivocally that “parental substance abuse is a major risk factor for child fatalities, maltreatment, and involvement with the child welfare system.”
This is not hyperbole. In fact, DCYF claims the lockboxes were a success. Tell that to the family of Otis, a newborn with fentanyl in his system. Otis was left in the unsupervised care of his father, a prolific criminal and drug addict who is thought to be homeless. But there’s good news: DCYF gave the father a lockbox.
Three weeks after being taken into custody, Otis’ tiny corpse was discovered naked, dumped in bushes in a nature reserve, with meth in his system.
Local prosecutors were unable to gather enough evidence to successfully charge the father in Otis’ death. During the investigation, detectives reported finding drugs and drug paraphernalia on the father. Perhaps he couldn’t fit everything in the lockbox?
While Democrats distribute lockboxes and ignore the risks to children, Republicans in the state legislature propose real solutions. Republican lawmakers have pre-filed House Bill 1087, which would allow courts to consider parental drug use when deciding whether a child should remain at home.
But without public pressure, Democrats may reject the move, as they have in the past. With complete control of the House, Senate, and governor’s mansion, they’ve been encouraged by liberal voters to continue down this dangerous path.
Holding addicts accountable violates Washington Democrats’ progressive ideology. It’s the same mindset that resulted in the disastrous Blake decision.
The Democrat-controlled Washington Supreme Court declared the state’s felony possession law unconstitutional on the absurd grounds that it assumed someone with drugs knew what they were carrying. Democrats could have amended the law to include the word “knowingly,” making it a felony to knowingly possess illicit substances.
Instead, Democrats effectively decriminalized hard drugs, transforming Seattle and other Washington cities into drug-infested wastelands. Overdose deaths and drug-related crimes naturally increased. The number of children in the state system who died or nearly died followed a similar upward trend.
Though political pressure eventually forced Democrats to recriminalize drugs, we continue to see the consequences on a daily basis: open-air drug markets, spikes in overdoses, and children dying because the state refuses to protect them.
The Washington lockbox scandal exemplifies everything wrong with the modern Left. They are so determined to avoid “stigmatizing” addicts that they are willing to allow children to suffer and die. And they expect us to praise them for it.
However, when addiction endangers children, we must stigmatize it. Drug use is not a harmless lifestyle choice, especially in homes where children live, breathe, and play.
At some point, we have to ask: How many children must die before Democrats admit they are wrong? How many bereaved families will it take before they realize that lockboxes will not solve this crisis? Because the state’s message right now is crystal clear: addicts’ rights take precedence over children’s lives.
