Steering Committee Members

Treatment First WA is a coalition of experts and community leaders who support replacing failing drug laws with a public health approach – treatment, recovery, and education.

We are public health experts, treatment professionals, legal and law enforcement experts, elected officials, leaders of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and formerly incarcerated and directly impacted community members working together for a public health approach to substance use disorders.

Molly Carney, Ph.D.

Molly Carney has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and spent many years as a research scientist at the University of Washington. Her entire career has been in substance use treatment. Carney also has...

Ret. Police Captain Les Liggins

Les Liggins, a married father of three, is a 32-year veteran in the police force. He retired as a captain in the Seattle Police Department, where he was narcotics commander for 4...

Carmen Pacheco-Jones

As a formerly incarcerated individual, Carmen Pacheco-Jones has dedicated herself to transforming the criminal legal system to create equity and justice for all who are impacted. Pacheco-Jones is the founder and chair of...

Keith Blocker

Tacoma Deputy Mayor Keith Blocker was elected to the District 3 seat of the Tacoma City Council in 2015. He currently sits on the City of Tacoma’s Government Performance and Finance Committee and the...

Jan Bolerjack

Reverend Jan Bolerjack is Pastor at Riverton Park United Methodist Church, Director for Tukwila School Board District 2, and has lived in Tukwila for the past 10 years. In ministry for more than...

Karen Dove

Karen Dove is Executive Director of ANEW, a nonprofit that improves people’s lives by providing quality training, employment navigation and supportive services leading to successful family wage careers. ANEW is the oldest continuously...

Monisha Harrell

Monisha Harrell is Board Chair for Equal Rights Washington, and chairs the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund. Harrell has served as a fellow for Lifelong AIDS Alliance, co-chair of the Capitol Hill...

Everett Maroon

Everett Maroon has lived in Walla Walla since 2008, after spending more than a decade in Washington, DC as a systems analyst and project manager. Maroon attended Syracuse University, graduating with bachelor’s degrees...

Michelle Merriweather

Michelle Merriweather is President and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. Merriweather is an engaged community servant serving on several boards and commissions including the Downtown Seattle Association, Alliance for Education,...

Salvador A. Mungia (Sal)

Salvador A. Mungia (Sal), former president of the Washington State Bar Association, is an attorney in Tacoma. Sal believes that providing people treatment, and not locking them behind bars, is the best...

Kurtis Robinson

Kurtis Robinson is a social justice advocate. He is a member of I Did the Time, the Revive Center for Returning Citizens, and the Board of Better Health Together. Robinson is also a...

Julian Saucier

Don Julian Saucier is Executive Director of Yoga Behind Bars, and has extensive experience working as a peer recovery specialist with people struggling because of substance use disorders. Saucier’s own life has been...

Chris Stearns

Chris Stearns is the first Native American (Navajo) to be elected to the Auburn City Council in the City’s history. He has spent his career in private practice and government advancing the rights...

Ben Stuckart

Ben Stuckart, former President of the Spokane City Council, now consults with health care agencies, and runs a low income housing consortium. Stuckart worked on regional law and justice reform while on...

Dr. Kim Thorburn

Dr. Kim Thorburn is a retired public health physician who worked for twenty years running prison health systems in California and Hawaii. Now based in Eastern Washington, where she served as Spokane’s public...

Dr. Robert Wood

Dr. Robert Wood served as the director of the HIV/AIDS program for King County (1986-2010). He is a retired Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Wood...