Spike: The Seattle Public Library is trying to save lives, not teach kids how to use drug paraphernalia

There’s a story I’d like to clarify some misrepresentations and offer some pertinent details centered around a recent social media “report” claiming the Seattle Public Library is holding classes on how to properly use drug paraphernalia to anyone, including children.  

The self-proclaimed “journalist” posted a video of his attempt to record a class held by the People’s Harm Reduction Alliance (PHRA), which provides equipment and instruction for overdose prevention and is hosted at a Seattle Public Library (SPL). 

When this individual was asked not to film the class, he refused to stop filming, resulting in the class being canceled. To me, this post appears less like journalism and more like an effort to drum up outrage and clicks. This “journalist” went on to use the footage as a vehicle for attacking both the city’s harm reduction policies and the library’s involvement in this effort, with a slanted “What are they trying to hide?” accusation. 

I spoke with SPL Communication Director Laura Gentry in an effort to get the facts of the situation. The reality is the overdose prevention tools provided in the harm reduction kits distributed within the city’s libraries are just that, tools, and framing Narcan as “drug paraphernalia” reeks of a purposefully incendiary misrepresentation of PHRA’s effort to increase public safety and health among the members of our community struggling with addiction. 

Intravenous needles vs. intramuscular syringes

A minimal amount of research into the matter, and my conversation with Gentry, quickly revealed that intravenous needles, the type used in needle exchange programs, are vastly different than the intramuscular syringes issued in the overdose prevention kits that PHRA distributes. These are the same types of self-injection syringes used in everything from treatments for diabetes, weight loss medications, EpiPens, low testosterone, and many others. 

But none of that was information mentioned in the piece. Instead, it framed the PHRA’s effort to inform and provide Fentanyl test strips and injectable Narcan, which at $4 per dose is ten times cheaper than the $40 cost of nasal Narcan, not as overdose prevention, but as a training on how to use drug paraphernalia. For kids. 

I did not see any children present in the class training. Did you? 

The policies employed by the City of Seattle to address addiction can and should be debated. What is their potential effectiveness, and risk? But that debate should be founded on and structured with accurate information and facts. Anything less than that might generate a lot of attention, but is genuinely harmful not only to the discussion, but also to the potential well-being of our community at large. 

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