The pills are smoked in the open on the streets of Seattle, even while police are nearby. “They say, ‘I’m getting headaches, I’m getting dizzy.’ I stop the bus, I pull over and let people off because they’re experiencing the same thing.
say, ‘I’m getting sick,’” said Cory Rigtrup, Vice President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, which represents King County Metro Transit drivers. “The most disturbing cases I’ve seen are people doing it right behind unsuspecting families with children,” adding that many passengers can’t identify what the smell is - described as burning peanut butter mixed with drain cleaner - or what it may be doing to them.
“They (fentanyl users) do this without any regard to who else is on the bus,” he said.