Clueless In Seattle

 

Seattle’s county government recently paid out millions of dollars to hand out free crack pipe kits to addicts. That sounds like an excellent use of taxpayers’ money! The kits even included tinfoil and instructions on how to smoke fentanyl. And the crack pipes were emblazoned with an image of Martin Luther King Jr. Would Dr. King have been proud of the association? Inquiring minds want to know.

Who thought this was a good idea? Apparently, Amber Tejada, an employee of a health nonprofit that had partnered with the city, for one. When a councilwoman queried her about the program, Tejada stated, “I know it can be a little controversial, but one of the key tenets of harm reduction that I see is that we want to be able to facilitate and champion autonomy of people who use drugs.” She added, “There are folks for whom abstinence is not something by which they measure their success in life.”

A key tenet of harm reduction is championing the autonomy of drug addicts? Few if any drug addicts have—or exercise-- much autonomy. Probably because “abstinence is not something by which they measure their success in life.” That checks out, as most addicts don’t experience a great deal of success in their lives. In one sense, addiction is addiction, whether it be to drugs, alcohol, food, submissiveness, or Trump Derangement Syndrome. Yet many of us know “functional” alcoholics, but few functional fentanyl, crack, and meth addicts are to be found.

Martin Luther King, Jr. famously spoke of “the content of one’s character.” I don’t believe the content of the hyper-empathetic progressives’ character is any better than that of the addicts they enable. Maybe worse, despite—or because of—their virtue signaling.

King’s likeness on the crack pipes makes no sense, even if the county was named for him. What’s next for Seattle and its far-left sister cities? Are they going to hand out free bongs sporting images of Susan B. Anthony? Free coke spoons adorned with the visage of Rosa Parks? Or even highball glasses graced with the likeness of Mahatma Ghandi?

I don’t get it. And, frankly, I’m happy I don’t. This policy seems insane to me. Seattle’s leaders can put that in their pipes and smoke it!

Seattle is anything but sound.