Seattle offers gift cards, other incentives to convince drug addicts to get treatment
Discovery Institute journalist Jonathan Choe weighs in on a Seattle policy offering drug addicts gift cards and other incentives to get treatment.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's new plan to combat his city's drug crisis is under fire from critics who claim bribing addicts with incentives to get treatment could make the problem worse.
The "contingency management" program, according to Harrell's webpage, aims to "encourage individuals with substance use disorder to accept treatment services by providing incentives" for partaking in a 12-week program administered at home instead of at a medical clinic.
Incentives include low-dollar gift cards and cash, among others.
Drugs have become an increasingly concerning problem for cities like Seattle, where the mayor unveiled plans to incentivize drug abstinence. (iStock)
"I think most of the reasonable people here in Seattle want this to work. It's new, it's innovative, it's never been tried before," Jonathan Choe, a journalist and senior fellow with the Discovery Institute, said Thursday on "Fox & Friends First." "But, on the flipside of that, you have people coming out and asking, ‘Why are we gamifying addiction?’"
"Basically, it's like going to a Chuck E. Cheese and trying to get points if the addicts follow through and stay clean and sober," he continued.
Choe said residents should adopt a "wait and see" approach to determine if the outline to combat drug problems will be effective in the long run.
Another crisis afflicting the city – homelessness – is closely intertwined with concerns over drug abuse.
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The Space Needle and Mount Rainier are seen on the skyline of Seattle, Washington, on Feb. 11, 2017. (REUTERS/Chris Helgren)
Choe said, according to his findings, eight out of 10 homeless people in the city are suffering from addiction to illicit drugs and they want to see change in their lives.
"At the end of the day, they want community. They want people to walk with them. They want to get off these drugs in most cases, but the support services and treatment aren't there," he said, adding mental illnesses and addiction should be addressed through outreach attempts.
"If those areas aren't addressed intentionally, with intervention, I think we're just going to see this crisis spiral out of control."
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Mayor Bruce Harrell delivers his first State of the City speech. (City of Seattle )
Fox News host Ashley Strohmier relayed concerns that Harrell's plan could lead addicts to sell items to fund their drug purchases going forward, especially in light of other measures addicts have taken in major U.S. cities, feeding into crime crises with break-ins to steal and sell merchandise.
Choe singled out China as the culprit behind the larger problem, fueling Mexican drug cartels that, with the help of a porous U.S. southern border, allow their illicit items to infiltrate communities across the country.
"We've got to cut off the supply. We've got to cut off the flow of drugs coming in," he argued.
