A lifeline for drug treatment on the ropes

Plus a taxing Saturday in the Senate, a skinnier wealth tax, and RIP Sen. Bill Ramos

Editor’s Note: We frequently reference new programs enacted by the Legislature in recent years as a driver of the state’s budget problem. Today, we look at one of those programs and the consequences of cutting the money for it.

Behind closed doors, lawmakers are hashing out a budget that could gut a lifeline keeping people struggling with addiction off the streets and out of jail.

Washington’s Recovery Navigator Program was born in 2021 after the Supremes’ Blake ruling, which essentially decriminalized drug possession, before lawmakers bumped it back up to a misdemeanor in 2023. 

The RNP operates as an intake program designed to assess and refer people in custody to pretrial diversion treatment at judges’ discretion. It’s framed by drug treatment advocates as a no-lose arrangement connecting drug users with treatment, the kind that can prevent them from winding up in handcuffs again. 

The whole program is on the chopping block this session and stands to see a serious, if not fatal, haircut. House Democrats’ proposed operating budget would slash the RNP’s budget by a good 10%. Senate Democrats wrote it out of their budget proposal entirely. Gov. Bob Ferguson’s proposed budget would bite nearly 40% out of the RNP’s funds over the next biennium.