Following in the footsteps of cities like Renton, Bellevue, Federal Way and Auburn, the city of Sammamish voted to oppose the siting of illegal substance abuse injection sites in city limits in a 5-2 vote.

According to Sammamish City Councilmember Ramiro Valderrama, the decision was made in response to the King County pilot program to introduce two safe injection facilities in the county, one in Seattle and a site in another, currently undecided, county city. In order to help save the lives of those fighting addiction, the safe injection site project would give people a safe place where they can use and have access to medical help in case of overdose or other health issues, and would try to help them into rehabilitation services.

To prevent King County from choosing them as the site for the second facility, cities like Renton and Auburn passed legislation banning that type of site from the city. Sammamish is the latest Eastside city to not allow that use.

Sammamish Deputy Mayor Christie Malchow said that the reason the city made a decision on this issue is because they did not want to be the last city in the area without a stance on the issue.

“The reason I wanted to take this up was so that we are not the last man standing when every other jurisdiction says no, I didn’t want all eyes to be on Sammamish,” she said. “This isn’t Sammamish turning a blind eye to this issue, we are aware that it is an issue … but I don’t want to provide easier access here in the city of Sammamish, we are a very young community and I just don’t think we are the right place for this and I do not support them in general.”

Malchow wasn’t the only council member who opposed the safe injection site in the city. Valderrama also opposed the concept for similar reasons and added that even King County Sheriff John Urquhart has never seen a successful example of a safe injection site.

“First of all, King County has not been transparent where the site will be selected, nobody has been sited outside of Seattle and we are starting to play a game of chicken sooner or later, hence why cities before us who were also not mentioned have sited and voted to oppose it going into their city,” he said. “I met with John Urquhart and [King County Councilmember] Kathy Lambert last week. [Urquhart] is for the safe injection site, yet when I asked him, ‘Is it successful?’ He said, ‘No.’ ‘Have you ever seen a successful site?’ He said, ‘No.’”

Mayor Bob Keller and Councilmembers Tom Odell and Tom Hornish also opposed a safe injection site in the city.

“On the macro level, it talks about condoning illegal action, and as a lawyer I can’t think that that makes any sense to say ‘It’s illegal, but here, let us help you do it,’ it makes no sense,” Hornish said.

However, Councilmembers Don Gerend and Kathleen Huckabay voted against the resolution. Gerend said he felt it was clear that the site was not going to be located in Sammamish regardless of any “last man standing” type pressure. Both Gerend and Huckabay supported the safe injection site program but agreed that it didn’t belong in Sammamish.

“If we pass a resolution saying we oppose it in Sammamish, it can be misinterpreted as saying we oppose the pilot program,” Gerend said. “So I’m going to vote against the resolution, I support the pilot program in King County and it wouldn’t make any sense to put it in our city where the need is not as great as elsewhere in the county.”