In the race for Washington governor, Democrat Bob Ferguson has touted more than $1 billion he’s won as attorney general to fight the fentanyl crisis.
Republican Dave Reichert has repeatedly called Ferguson “pro-fentanyl” for at one point supporting the decriminalization of simple drug possession.
Both candidates have made the synthetic opioid prominent in their campaigns, which makes sense given the scale and severity of the crisis, with more than 1,000 fatal overdoses recorded last year in King County alone.
Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin, has shorter-lasting effects than other opioids and is cheap to produce illicitly for street dealing.
“It’s something that’s top of mind for just about everyone,” said Rep. Lauren Davis, D-Shoreline, who helps lead the Washington Recovery Alliance.
Yet the candidates are approaching the problem from different perspectives.
Ferguson is proposing to build on a range of efforts that are gaining traction in some Washington communities, whereas Reichert, a former congressman and King County sheriff, is calling for the state to change course.
Ferguson has pointed to the money his office has secured in lawsuits against drug companies and other players in the opioid epidemic, while Reichert has appealed to crime-weary voters by playing up his law-and-order bona fides.
Their clash is happening at a crucial moment, because fentanyl deaths may be starting to decline a bit after years of astronomical growth, experts say, and the winner of the race could significantly influence what happens next.
“The governor is the final decision-maker for the state agencies, and they’re the ones in a position to implement this,” said Caleb Banta-Green, who directs the University of Washington’s drug education and research center.
Ferguson has put out a multipoint plan for addressing the fentanyl crisis but declined an interview request for this story, citing a busy schedule during the homestretch of an election in which he’s the favorite. Although Reichert agreed to an interview about the crisis, he hasn’t released a detailed plan.
Ferguson’s plan
Ferguson’s plan includes:
- An interagency “crisis response unit” to address the fentanyl crisis.
- More law enforcement funding for drug and gang task forces.
- Opioid disorder screening and medication in more of the state’s jails.
- More funding for police and other first responders, like nurses.
- More walk-in crisis centers like those opening up in King County.
“Bob will crack down on the illegal distribution and sale of fentanyl and help people into recovery and treatment,” his campaign website says, describing his fentanyl plan as part of a broader agenda on behavioral health.
“There’s only one candidate in this race who’s currently fighting the fentanyl epidemic” and only one with a detailed plan, he added in a statement.
Davis has endorsed Ferguson partly because he’s been “a national leader” in suing drug companies that helped spawn the opioid crisis and because he’s shown a “very sincere desire to hear from directly-impacted people,” she said.
Ferguson has fewer police backers than Reichert. But Ken Hohenberg, a former Kennewick police chief, has endorsed the Democrat, he said, partly because Ferguson’s legal settlements have funded drug services.
“I’ve appreciated his broad perspective on public safety,” Hohenberg said. “The criminal justice system is much bigger than just putting people in jail.”
In 2021, Ferguson sided with reformers for decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs, including fentanyl. He has subsequently backed away from that position, citing Oregon’s struggles with a similar policy.
Reichert’s views
Reichert hasn’t drafted a plan specific to fentanyl. Instead, he’s put out homelessness and public safety “blueprints” that include ideas about drugs.
“You can’t separate the substance abuse issue from homelessness or mental illness, in my opinion. They’re connected,” he said in an interview last week.
Reichert says he’d prioritize going after gang traffickers with federal grants for drug task forces and would appoint a director of homelessness. He said 30% of the state’s spending on housing for homeless people should be linked to drug treatment and says current strategies to address fentanyl have failed.
“What we’ve been doing is just providing housing,” he said, arguing there should be “a responsibility placed upon the person who’s going to be housed — to be clean and sober, to go through therapy and drug programs.”
Reichert says people in state-funded housing should be able to access such programs on site or at “service hubs.” He opposes the establishment of sites where people struggling with addiction can use drugs under medical supervision and the distribution by some organizations of harm reduction “survival kits” with clean syringes, pipes and overdose medications.
“They’re really suicide kits,” he said.
Snohomish County Councilmember Nate Nehring has endorsed Reichert, partly because he agrees on those points. A Republican who represents communities like Stanwood and Marysville, he said the drug-crime reforms that Democrats tried from 2021 to 2023 were “an absolute disaster.”
“Housing may help with the homelessness component but it doesn’t do a lot to address the root cause which often is fentanyl addiction,” Nehring added.
Public health
It’s true that housing sick people without services can be problematic, Davis said. However, housing is a crucial step toward recovery, and sobriety or treatment requirements throw up barriers, she and other experts said.
“You’re going to have a bunch of empty beds,” said Joe Barsana, a housing case manager at the King County Drug Diversion Court who serves as president of the Washington State Therapeutic Court Alumni Association.
Harm reduction strategies are evidence-based and can keep people alive, said Barsana, who earlier in life was addicted to opioids and methamphetamines. He thinks Washington needs a governor who wants to fully fund housing, counseling, medication and criminal justice diversion programs.
Barsana thinks positive momentum is growing in King County, where opioid treatment medication is becoming more available, more quickly through sources like a 24/7 hotline, a mobile clinic and other options, he said.
That’s key, agreed Banta-Green from UW, arguing the state’s goal should be to make addiction medications easier to get than the drugs themselves. It’s an achievable goal, but Washington needs better coordination across communities and needs leaders willing to go big on treatment, he said.
Crime debate
Ferguson held a commanding 50% to 34% lead over Reichert in a recent poll sponsored partly by The Seattle Times. But the Democrat’s evolution on drug prosecutions may be a vulnerability, or Reichert seems to think so.
Polling better among voters whose top issue is crime, Reichert has attacked his opponent in debates and with social media posts, such as: “Bob Ferguson is pro-fentanyl. In fact, he championed the decriminalization of fentanyl.”
Washington lawmakers didn’t wholly decriminalize drug possession in 2021, when Ferguson urged them to. But they did make it a low-level misdemeanor while saying police had to refer people to services before making arrests.
Two years later, under pressure to address widespread public drug use, they upgraded it to a gross misdemeanor and removed the referral requirement.
Reichert says the current law is a “good first step,” with more consistent consequences needed after arrests are made. Ferguson has said he also supports the new law, explaining his change in thought by arguing that Oregon’s recent experiment with decriminalization “did not work out.”
Although Davis still opposes prosecuting people for simple possession, she says she miscalculated how disruptive the Washington Legislature’s 2021 move would be. Leaders like her and Ferguson “should be allowed to evolve their opinions,” she said.
Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell is a more conservative Democrat who thinks Ferguson “has moved in the right direction” on drugs. He thinks Reichert would also “be good on drug policy” but has endorsed his party’s candidate.
