Possession of illegal drugs and public drug use will become gross misdemeanor crimes in Oak Harbor on July 1, six weeks earlier than much of the rest of the state.

At the urging of Police Chief Kevin Dresker, the Oak Harbor City Council last week adopted a temporary drug ordinance that covers the gap between the expiration of the current state law and when the new law goes into effect completely on Aug. 15.

The city’s ordinance is slightly stricter than the state’s new 48-page law, which Dresker said is a “muddled mess” but better than the current, expiring law. Lawmakers adopted the new law after Gov. Jay Inslee called a special session last month. It raises the state’s penalty for simple drug possession to a gross misdemeanor and criminalizes public drug use.

Communities across the state have been grappling with the rising tide of drug abuse — with overdose deaths rising 17% last year — and the fallout from the state Supreme Court’s Blake decision in 2021, which ruled the state’s felony drug possession law unconstitutional.

Lawmakers adopted a stopgap “Blake fix” legislation in 2021 that made possession of a prohibited substance a misdemeanor but required police to refer the individual to assessment and treatment for their first two arrests for simple possession. The law, however, was nearly impossible to implement because there is no statewide tracking system for referrals.

The result was that drug possession remained effectively decriminalized. Dresker pointed out that his officers made 50 drug possession arrests that ended in conviction in 2018 and only three in 2022.

For state lawmakers, finding a compromise on a permanent law proved to be difficult. Many lawmakers wanted to prioritize treatment over jail for simple possession while others, including Dresker, argue that people who are addicted often need to face a legal consequence before they will agree to treatment and change their lives.

“We want people to get treated,” he said. “Everybody does. It’s a question of how we get there.”

The new law makes simple possession of non-prescription controlled substances and public use of those drugs a gross misdemeanor crime, but with modified imprisonment times. Referrals for treatment are no longer required but encouraged under the law.

The law prevents a person from being charged with both possession and public use, but Oak Harbor’s temporary ordinance allows someone to be charged with both. Like the new state law, the city ordinance makes simple possession or public use of drugs like methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and heroin a gross misdemeanor. Dresker said officers can either cite or arrest someone who violates the ordinance.

The chief pointed out that the city ordinance does not apply to juveniles while the new state law does.

The city’s ordinance will sunset on Aug. 15 and the state rules will be in effect. The law was supposed to go into effect on July 1 but an oversight prevented that. The requirement for law enforcement to refer people twice to treatment is in place until Aug. 15.

Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks called the July 1 expiration of the current law “a non-event” with no change from the current state of non-enforcement. He sees no reason for the county to adopt an ordinance similar to the city’s.

“No one proposed or asked me to review a local drug ordinance,” he wrote in an email. “I think creating a county ordinance that would be effective for only six weeks would not be an effective use of county resources and not make any measurable difference in our drug problem.”

Banks said he is exploring diversion programs to accompany the new state law.

“We’ll be more focused on punishment in cases where people pose a risk to public safety and treatment where they don’t,” he said in an email.