Seattle is Dying

Seattle is Dying explores the intertwined crises of addiction and homelessness in Seattle. It tells the story of a deep, simmering frustration that escalated into anger and outrage, highlighting the experiences of people who had once felt compassion but no longer feel safe, heard, or protected. It’s about lost individuals roaming the streets, disconnected from home, family, or reality, chasing a drug that in turn relentlessly pursues them.

The film examines not only the harm they inflicted upon themselves, but also the toll it took on the fabric of the community. It speaks of a once-beautiful city under strain, and a growing crisis of faith among Seattleites who no longer felt at home in the place they once loved. But there’s another side to this story—a potential solution, a glimmer of hope in a city that seems to have run out of ideas. The question remains: what if Seattle is dying, and we don’t even realize it?

Additional information:

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the only thing I can equate it to is we’re running a concentration camp without barbed wire, up to and including the medical experiment of poisoning these people with drugs. I don’t know how else to put it and it’s infuriating.”

"I would say all of the [homeless] people living in sidewalk tents, doorways, and encampments suffer from drug addiction, or, more rarely, a serious debilitating mental illness."

"Drug dealers selling crack, meth and heroin are evil people preying on the weakest part of society and belong in prison. We arrest them and nothing happens to them. They are back out on the street immediately. We need to acknowledge the disregard for human life inherent in selling life ending drugs and lock the dealers up for serious time."

"We can’t just ignore out way out of this, we can’t arrest our way out of this. People are dying and there’s something we can do to stop that."

"People who steal and commit crime to get their drugs eventually end up in this place – the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. It’s not a nice place, it’s a prison, but inside the walls something amazing happens. Every day the inmates, who are in the Medication-Assisted Treatment program line up and take their medicine. There are three opiate blockers that work - Methadone, Suboxone and Vivitrol. They are FDA approved, they get people off heroin, they save lives … It stabilizes us physically so that we can do the emotional work that we need to do to heal from the disease."