New ADAI Report: Evaluation of Seattle City Ordinance 126896 (Possession and Use of Controlled Substances in Public Spaces)

In late 2023, the City of Seattle passed Ordinance 126896, a law intended to reduce jail bookings for public drug use and possession by encouraging police to divert people to services instead of the criminal legal system.

Researchers from the University of Washington’s Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute, led by Assistant Professor Mandy Owens, PhD, were asked to evaluate how well the law was working during its first year.

This new report from Dr. Owens describes some of the trends revealed by the evaluation, while also strongly cautioning against making any firm conclusions about the impact of the ordinance itself based on these trends:

• Both police diversions and arrests for public drug possession increased after the ordinance took effect in October 2023, though the study couldn’t determine whether the ordinance itself caused these changes (the state also changed its drug possession law around the same time).
• Interviews with people who use drugs suggested that most were unfamiliar with the ordinance and reported that police encounters around public use often resulted in being told to “move along” rather than formal diversion or arrest.
• Business owners said they still saw significant public drug use and felt the diversion-focused strategies were well-intentioned but ineffective.

The true effects of the ordinance cannot be assessed because of a number of factors that interfered with researchers’ ability to evaluate its effectiveness:

• There was no appropriate comparison group (no way to know what would have happened if the ordinance had not been passed).
• There were significant delays in getting necessary approvals for collecting required data, and gaps and delays in receiving that data from the Seattle Police Department.

• Many required data variables were not reliably documented, like records of police diversions, arrests tied to 911 calls, and booking outcomes.

This report aimed to answer whether this ordinance was effective and its impact. However, it was not possible to answer most of the five effectiveness and three impact questions, nor to provide many of the required data variables. The final report serves as a foundation for future recommendations from the City of Seattle Office of Inspector General and annual evaluations of the ordinance.

The final report was presented to the Seattle City Council in a Public Safety Commission meeting on February 10, 2026. A recording of that session is available here.