Best of 2024: Why Seattle's mental health problems are so visible
Seattle Now
KUOW News and Information
4.7 • 670 Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2024
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We have one more lookback on our 2024 reporting, as we transition into the new year.
Severe mental illness is a very visible problem in Seattle. In 2023, police responded to almost 10 thousand scenes of people experiencing mental health crises.
Investigative reporters spent the past year asking big questions on the show Lost Patients about why so many people with severe mental illness end up untreated, and on the streets.
And as they did, Seattle continued to pass legislation against one of the connected elements, public drug use.
The newest laws are stay out of drug areas, also called SODAs, in hot spots for drug use and sales.
Those went into effect in October.
And the problems are still visible.
Today we re-visit an episode from earlier in the year because this question, of how the problem got so severe, is as relevant as ever.
We talked to Lost Patients host Will James back in March.
Listen to Lost Patients: KUOW - Lost Patients
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | These days, there's so much news. |
| 0:01.8 | It can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community. |
| 0:06.4 | The Consider This Podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. |
| 0:10.7 | Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and analysis that helps you make sense of the news. |
| 0:17.5 | We get behind the headlines. |
| 0:19.4 | We get to the truth. |
| 0:24.1 | Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. |
| 0:35.6 | Hey, good morning. I'm Paige Browning. It's Tuesday. This is Seattle now. This New Year's Eve, we have one more look back on our 2024 reporting as we transition into the new year. |
| 0:42.3 | Severe mental illness is a very visible problem in Seattle. |
| 0:46.3 | In 2023, police responded to almost 10,000 scenes of people experiencing mental health crises. |
| 0:53.3 | Investigative reporters spent the past year |
| 0:55.8 | asking big questions on the show Lost Patients about why so many people with severe mental |
| 1:01.9 | illness end up untreated and on the streets. And as they did, Seattle continued to pass legislation |
| 1:08.7 | against one of the connected elements, public drug use. |
| 1:13.0 | The newest laws are stay out of drug areas, also called sodas in hot spots for drug use and sales. |
| 1:20.4 | Those went into effect in October. |
| 1:22.9 | And the problems are still visible. |
| 1:25.4 | Today we revisit an episode from earlier in the year because this |
| 1:29.2 | question of how the problem got so severe is as relevant as ever. We talked to Lost Patients |
| 1:36.5 | host Will James back in March. Will, thanks so much. |
| 1:44.5 | Thank you, Trish. |
| 1:45.4 | Yeah, really appreciate you being here. |
... |
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