Seattle City Council OKs law to prosecute for having and using drugs such as fentanyl in public

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle City Council has adopted an ordinance that makes illegal drug use and possession a gross misdemeanor, after rejecting a similar measure earlier this summer. The council voted 6-3 to approve the measure on Tuesday. It aligns the city’s code with a new state law making possession and public use of drugs such as fentanyl, a gross misdemeanor. State lawmakers had been under pressure to pass a bill this year because a temporary law that made intentional drug possession illegal was due to expire July 1. Unless the Legislature passed a new law, drug possession would have been decriminalized under state law. Both measures encourage police to divert people to services rather than arrest them.