Stalwart opposition from the community came Feb. 3 as Spokane’s City Council voted to limit the sale of drug paraphernalia and single-serve alcohol downtown.

The legislation – which passed by a unanimous 6-0 vote – established Alcohol and Community Health Impact Areas that span Riverside, Peaceful Valley, and Browne’s Addition despite staunch opposition from city residents testifying at Monday’s hearing. Betsy Wilkerson, the Council’s chair and one of the sponsors of the ordinance, was not in attendance.  

Those opposed to the legislation ranged from concerned citizens to public health experts, such as Caitlin Costanza, a medical student and member of the Harm Reduction Action Team for Spokane’s Health Equity Circle.

“From a public health perspective, the provision of clean glass is a form of harm reduction that reduces communicable diseases and overdose deaths,” Costanza said. “These businesses are providing a harm reduction that the city and health district have failed to provide.”

Not all of those in attendance – especially those on the Council – seemed to agree. Jonathan Bingle, City Council Member for District 1, believes that the sale of these items are the result of a push by local distributors to target victims of addiction.

“There is a line where it becomes clearly predatory behavior,” Bingle said. “When you’re setting up products that have a legal use but you know people are going to be using them for illegal purposes, you’re selling them to prey on broken individuals.”

Ordinance 36635 – considered to be one of the first municipal laws of its kind – would require business owners within the impact area to provide anti-overdose medications like Naloxone with every purchase of items like pipes and foils. While a pipe may cost a business roughly $5, emergency nasal sprays like Narcan can cost upwards of $35, a move that could cost these business owners more than what those sales normally bring in.

Ordinance 36634, its sister legislation, would target the sale of single-serve alcohol containers and other products, like Pabst Ice Ale and Fireball plastic shots. It would also limit local distributors (except bars) from selling alcohol past midnight, similar to a Washington State law currently prohibiting the sale of alcohol from 2 a.m. to 6 p.m.. 

This wouldn’t be the first time, however, that Spokane has established an Alcohol Impact Area downtown. In 2022, East Central and Downtown both had their own AIA’s under similar legislative guidelines, Erin Sellers from RANGE Media reported.

According to County Health Insights, Spokane County had 276 reported overdose deaths in 2024, 84 percent of which were opioid-related – the highest on record within the last five years. Whether the new legislation will positively affect these figures remains to be seen.

Initially proposed by Mayor Lisa Brown’s administration, the legislation would aim to combat “disproportionate public health and secondary neighborhood impacts,” as well as address the spread of drug overdose within the city. Organizations like Downtown Spokane Partnership were in full support of the bill – as stated by Rae-Lynn Barden, Director of Policy and Membership at Downtown Spokane Partnership.

“We believe the best option is a full prohibition on the sale of these legal consumables that are used for these illegal uses downtown,” Barden said Monday. “We also encourage the city to advocate for the state to provide flexibility to entirely prohibit these sales in designated areas.”

For any questions or comments about this story, contact the author at sami.maria.aurea@gmail.com.