News Drugs on buses have become an everyday hazard, Seattle-area transit workers say

[thegreenhand]

Drugs on buses have become an everyday hazard, Seattle-area transit workers say

Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times
14 Feb 2022

Bus and train operators say so many people are smoking drugs on Seattle-area transit that the fumes, and volatile behavior, create a hazardous work environment that discourages ridership.

King County Metro Transit workers filed 44 security incident reports regarding drug use in 2019, then 73 in 2020 and an unprecedented 398 reports in 2021, by Metro’s count. The database reflects both a real increase and more reporting, officials say.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, representing 4,305 active members, says stronger enforcement is needed, including more police and security guards, with greater authority to remove people. Besides toxic smoke, union officials said crews who maintain transit stops have been punched, spat upon and threatened. Many incidents don’t show up in official reports, union leaders say.

Narcotics smoking aboard transit took hold last summer, and now surpasses needles and marijuana in driver complaints. Since then, at least six operators asked to stop driving midshift, and 14 specifically mentioned feeling headaches, dizziness or irritated breathing.

Read the full article here.

 

[thegreenhand]

i get that safe places to consume drugs might not be available to all, but you can't do it on a bus (especially not smoking anything)

 

[Burnt Offerings]

It blew my mind recently when @JTemperance mentioned in a thread that people smoke methamphetamine aboard public transportation in the PNW!

The last time I was in that area of the country (Washington/Oregon) was 2016...I dunno, I guess a lot has changed since the last time I was there!

 

[thegreenhand]

it's wild. i was in Seattle for a few days this past summer. there was open drug use (injection and smoking) on the sidewalks but i didn't see it on public transit (not that i used much of it though).

it's terribly sad. like how bad do someone's conditions have to be for that to even happen?

 

[JTemperance]

It blew my mind recently when @JTemperance mentioned in a thread that people smoke methamphetamine aboard public transportation in the PNW!

The last time I was in that area of the country (Washington/Oregon) was 2016...I dunno, I guess a lot has changed since the last time I was there!

I mean, it's certainly not every ride that I see huge clouds of meth vapor wafting forward from the last row. It depends on the bus (and section of the route) and time of day, of course. The "RapidRide" express lines can get pretty wild, especially the "E," starting in Pioneer Square and ending way up north on Aurora.

Actually, I've seen more people on the bus smoking off foil than hitting a bubbler. But most of them were trying in vain to get a last hit from a cashed pill (of fentanyl), so there wasn't much smoke/vapor to disturb other passengers. (Although I guess just seeing it would disturb some of them.)

Like @thegreenhand said, the sidewalks and alleyways are more active for drug smoking/injecting. This summer was really crazy: the block of 3rd Ave between Pike & Union was lined with tents and given over 100% to drug users and dealers.

When you turn around to go home, after getting done with your blatant drug purchase on the corner, and you almost bump into a group of tourists standing 5 feet away, and you realize they've been watching you the entire time, and you see the looks on their faces... it's downright shameful.

 

[Jabberwocky]

it's terribly sad. like how bad do someone's conditions have to be for that to even happen?

from the perspective of someone who has openly used in public and used to as a rule, mostly in council blocks though, its not cos things have got particularly bad in terms of how my life was going right then. its more about how uncontrollable the addiction has got. i was using within a minute walk of my place, because that minute was too long to wait.

i dunno, now i'm rereading this and realising i'm still judging the severity of my situation against those who had lost homes or arms to their addiction. maybe having a perfectly good place to go but it just being too far away to wait til you get there still means conditions are bad?

either way, it really is sad. completely dehumanising situation to be in.

 

[thegreenhand]

from the perspective of someone who has openly used in public and used to as a rule, mostly in council blocks though, its not cos things have got particularly bad in terms of how my life was going right then. its more about how uncontrollable the addiction has got. i was using within a minute walk of my place, because that minute was too long to wait.

i dunno, now i'm rereading this and realising i'm still judging the severity of my situation against those who had lost homes or arms to their addiction. maybe having a perfectly good place to go but it just being too far away to wait til you get there still means conditions are bad?

either way, it really is sad. completely dehumanising situation to be in.

yeah that's a good point.

i think i would consider an addiction severe enough to warrant using 1 minute away from home to be 'bad conditions'. but i'll admit my original comment was about homelessness and extreme poverty