The Evolution of Bad Things
The Evolution of Bad Things
Is the Northwest bound for chaos?
Imagine a place where homelessness is increasing at alarming rates. Imagine a state that is decriminalizing all illegal drug use. Imagine a place where there is a serious lack of mental health care and treatment programs for substance abusers. Welcome to Washington State.
I try not to get too personal on social media and on my own site www.danstevenerickson.com, but I’ve got some stories to tell that need to be heard. Maybe, this is the place?
Don’t Believe It When They Tell You It’s the Same
I lived in Washington State for most of my life. In the past 10-15 years I’ve seen some drastic and concerning changes. I’ve watched the occasional homeless person turn into entire tent cities of homeless people. I’ve witnessed an influx in the availability of harder drugs like meth, cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. During the same period of time the State of Washington has changed several laws that only lead to exacerbating the problems.
Recently I left Washington State. After living in the state for the majority of my life, I packed up my shit and moved to Maine. People told me it’s the same wherever you go. You won’t find anything better. Those people are either ignorant or wearing blinders. It’s not the same wherever you go. Yes, there are many places with just as many problems as Washington State. But that does not add up to “it’s the same everyplace you go.” I’ve traveled the United States quite extensively and there are still many places with much less crime, places that are more peaceful that address problems more realistically.
Now that we have that bullshit out of the way let’s talk a bit more about the evolution of bad things in the Northwest.
The Northwest Is Making Its Own Bed
Okay, here’s the story. I have a 17-year-old daughter. We lived in Yakima Washington since she was born. Yakima is a gang and drug infested shithole. Sorry if the truth hurts. It just is. And no, it’s not the same everywhere. It’s impossible for a kid to attend high school in Yakima without being exposed to kids who run in gangs, carry guns, and sell drugs. Impossible.
On the other hand, it’s easy for a kid to be enamored and influenced by other kids who wear Jordans, drive sports cars, and flash large amounts of cash. Can you say drug dealers? That’s right. They’re everywhere in Yakima, including the high schools. Kids snort cocaine off the bathroom counters. But it’s not just Yakima, cities like Spokane, Tacoma, and Everett are seeing similar problems.
So you might think the state would do something to stop this from happening, to protect its kids. The state has not. In fact, several laws have caused the opposite to happen. Things are getting worse. Here are a few reasons why:
Beginning at age 13, kids have privacy rights, this includes privacy in regard to medical and mental health care. It allows mere children the ability to make their own medical choices, including choices about substance-abuse treatment. Thirteen year olds can refuse help even if their parents know they need it.
Washington, following Oregon’s lead has decriminalized all recreational drugs in small quantities. This includes heroin, cocaine, and meth. Imagine, allowing people to use, and even sell small quantities of lethal drugs with NO legal or social consequences.
There is not enough mental health care or treatment options in the state. For God’s sake if you’re going to decriminalize drugs please have an infrastructure set up to help those who cannot help themselves. This is not happening in Washington.
Although Washington has laws regarding getting help for minors who are suffering from substance abuse issues, the medical community does not honor those laws. Instead, when a minor comes is in an emergency situation, rather than honoring the parents wishes and the Family Initiated Treatment Act, they simply tell you there is nothing they can do and release your kid back into the community to repeat the cycle.
There is a six-month to one-year waitlist for most child psychiatrists and psychologists in the state.
The cost of living is extremely inflated.
It’s a Toxic Mix and It’s Not Getting Better
If you’ve driven through cities like Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and smaller towns like Vancouver, Yakima, and Bellingham, you’ve likely seen the tents by dozens on the side of the highways, under bridges, in parking lots, and even on downtown streets. Why?
While the inflated cost of living definitely plays a role, it’s my considerate opinion that it’s more Washington’s own laws that are increasing the problem. What do you expect? You decriminalize drugs. You let children make their own medical decisions. You turn people away from care, even when they request that a state law be implemented on their child’s behalf. You let thousands of young people fall through the cracks when they need your help the most. You get what you deserve, hundreds and thousands of young drug-addicted homeless citizens. You made the laws. You reap what you sow.
In my own case, my daughter was sucked into the drug culture in Yakima. She met a young man, 10-15 years her elder, who was willing to sell her harder drugs. Not only did he sell her drugs, he would deliver them to her wherever and whenever she wanted. In July of 2022 with my help he was arrested. It’s been six months since. He’s still out on bail and according to word on the street still dealing drugs. He was found in possession of both cocaine and fentanyl when he was arrested. People are dying from fentanyl overdose at alarming rates. Yet this dealer is likely still working the streets. Why?
In my daughter’s case her substance abuse led to psychosis. She landed in the emergency room at Yakima Memorial Hospital about six times between July and October of 2022. Each time the staff told me there was nothing they could do to take further action unless she volunteered. They checked her out just to see her again a few weeks later. I did my research. I discovered several laws that might help. I even contacted Governor Jay Inslee’s office. They gave me more information. There were several options. The problem is that none of them really work. The government does not stand by its laws to help families in this situation.
The medical community has little knowledge of the law and even when you show them the law they turn you away by claiming your child does not fit the criteria because she’s not suicidal or homicidal. Is that how long we must wait? In the case of the Family Initiated Treatment Act, the medical community claims they do not have the personnel or the facilities to comply. I call bullshit. It’s the fucking law. Yet they are still sending me the bill for their services?
I Was Left with One Choice
After trying for five months to get my daughter the help she needed I made a drastic choice. I bought a condo in Maine and got the hell out of that shithole. After watching my child continue to return to using drugs even when she was experiencing psychosis, even when she wanted to stop, wanted help, I left Washington State. The state failed me. The state failed my daughter. They could have helped. If we’d have stayed, my kid was on a one-way journey to drug addiction and homelessness. And this is a problem the state has created. The state allows this to happen. I predict the number of young homeless people to double in the Northwest in the next 10 years.
We got out. My daughter is almost three months clean. She has found drug counseling. She is working. She is getting back to completing her education. But I had to leave the state to make this happen. Fortunately I had the means. There are thousands of families with kids in similar circumstances who do not have those means. Where do they wind up? On the streets? Dead?
The Evolution of Bad Things
Yes, bad things can happen anywhere and everywhere. But some places are much worse than others. Just a few days ago in Yakima Washington a 21-year-old male stopped at a minimart and randomly killed three people. He was was drug-addicted. There are drive-by shootings in Yakima on a monthly basis. The homicide rate in Yakima County was at its highest in over 40 years in 2022. It’s not a coincidence.
If you let people ingest poison, poison takes over. If you avoid giving out legal consequences and allow the glamorization of the gang and drug culture you wind up with thousands of kids who become addicted. You wind up with 12-year-olds in gangs with guns. I’ll be the first to admit that the War on Drugs was a failure. I’m not suggesting we continue down that same path. But if victims don’t have the laws and the means to get help, what then? Stop allowing your citizens to deal and use drugs without consequence other than homelessness or death by overdose. Wake the fuck up!
It is an evolution. And Washington State is responsible. I consider myself a progressive, a liberal, but even I can see the idiocy of the laws that are being made in the Northwest that are leading to the continuing chaos. - dse