6 FEBRUARY 2-8, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Check It Out AS A FOURTH METRO LIBRARY CLOSES BECAUSE OF METH CONTAMINATION, DENVER HOLDS FIRM AGAINST TESTING. BY CONOR MCCORMIC K- CAVANAGH Remember when fentanyl was the great scourge? As more and more metro area libraries test positive for methamphetamine, the City of Denver has decided to establish a formal cleaning protocol for meth contamination at government properties. “The Denver Department of Public Health & Environment, along with contracted ex- perts in industrial hygiene, are working to- gether with city agencies to formalize that policy. The formal policy will include routine cleaning operations for unknown substances and for viral pathogens, like COVID-19 and infl uenza. Additionally, the policy will out- line when Denver Police or DDPHE need to be consulted. While we expect the policy to be formalized in the next few weeks, we have and will continue to follow the recom- mended and thorough protocols that have been in place already,” says Tammy Vigil, a spokesperson for DDPHE. The move to formalize this policy came after libraries in Boulder, Littleton and Engle- wood had to temporarily shut down after tests turned up meth residue — which can be hazardous, particularly to young children and older adults — in facility bathrooms. Boulder was the fi rst to close, in December; during the last weekend of January, the Arvada library joined the lineup after meth residue was discovered there. But the fact that meth contamina- tion has become big news in Colorado isn’t evidence that the drug is suddenly newly popular after falling out of favor as other drugs, such as fentanyl, took the spotlight. “Meth has been just as popular for years,” says Lisa Raville, executive direc- tor of the Harm Reduction Action Center. “I think fentanyl became sexy to the media. People have been using meth for fun, often with sex and as a survival method for our unhoused neighbors in Denver, especially on cold, snowy nights to walk around the city to not lay down and freeze to death.” Raville thinks the recent focus on meth contamination at libraries shares similarities with reefer madness stories and the intense media coverage of fentanyl. “If the drug war had a communications director, she’s doing a great job at getting misinformation out there,” she notes. Boulder Public Library’s main branch has partially reopened following its late-Decem- ber closure attributed to meth contamination, which is regulated by the Colorado Depart- ment of Public Health & Environment. When a building or home becomes contaminated with meth — either from smoking or cooking the drug — the cost of tests and remediation work to get the meth residue below state-law thresholds can be exorbitant. The Boulder library, for example, has spent $50,000 on testing so far and another $50,000 on cleaning and remediation. And the library still needs to fully remediate the main branch’s bathrooms, which will cost an additional $68,000, as well as whatever it costs to test the bathrooms again and re- place contaminated material that has been removed. “The library hopes to get the restrooms open as quickly as possible. When they do reopen, they won’t be open and freely ac- cessible. Instead, they will be monitored by security and staff, and will remain locked. Users will have to ask a staff or security guard for access,” says Annie Elliott, a spokesperson for the City of Boulder, who notes that the city has also spent $15,000 on access control to the restrooms. After seeing what happened in Boulder, the City of Englewood decided to test its own library and public-facing areas of a municipal building on January 6. The test results came back hot, leading Englewood to close its li- brary, the north lobby of its Civic Center, and the second-fl oor restrooms of the Civic Center. Englewood is now working to remediate these areas. And after both Boulder and Englewood tested for meth in their libraries, the City of Littleton decided to test its own Bemis Pub- lic Library on January 13. When the results came back on January 18, they showed meth contamination in the exhausts of the men’s and women’s bathrooms on the main fl oor and the gender-neutral restroom on the lower level of the library. Littleton is remediating these areas and began testing other parts of the library on January 24. The library is still closed. Then this past weekend, Jefferson County Public Library closed the Arvada Library, at 7525 West 57th Avenue, after meth residue was discovered. “JCPL has been closely fol- lowing the reports of methamphetamine residue found at libraries in our region and working with expert partners for guidance on this topic,” the library said in an announce- ment on its website. “The Arvada Library will be closed as of Sat., Jan. 28 until further testing can be conducted to determine the extent of the affected area. The duration of the closure is unknown at this time and next steps will be determined in consultation with our expert partners. ... This is an ongoing situation and if there is information that would lead us to believe that there is an unreasonable risk to the health of staff or patrons, testing at other locations would be plausible.” But while numerous municipal en- tities in the metro area have tested their libraries for meth, Denver Public Library has not done so, and does not plan to do so. Although the Central Library has been closed to the public since January 22 and will remain closed until mid-February, that’s because “fi rst fl oor services and collections are be- ing relocated from the south side of the building [to] the north side of the building in preparation for the fi nal intensive phase of our multi-year reno- vation project,” according to the Denver Public Library website. “As a reminder, the public health risk re- lated to methamphetamine residue is very low,” notes Vigil. “Elevated health concern comes from long-term exposure to proper- ties where methamphetamine was produced because of the chemical reaction that occurs in the production process, or routinely con- sumed. Denver libraries and other Denver facilities regularly clean restroom surfaces and ventilation equipment to mitigate the spread of diseases and any exposure to unknown substances. As always, it’s best to frequently wash your hands and avoid touching your face in public.” And as Raville points out, “Area hospitals are not reporting any cases of people with related health concerns.” For those who’d rather see local libraries used as stashes for reading materials, not drugs, Raville has a suggestion. If they don’t want people “using drugs in public spaces such as bathrooms and in train stations, we would love their support for overdose prevention sites,” she says, referring to super- vised sites where staff monitor people using drugs to prevent or reverse any overdoses. Denver City Council and Mayor Michael Hancock approved a proposal to legalize such sites in 2018. However, the city had been waiting on the Colorado Legislature to pass similar legislation, and when it failed to do so, the city put the plan on hold. Then came all the controversy over drug use in the bathrooms at the Union Station bus terminal in December 2021; those facilities have only recently been reopened. With concern over meth and other drugs spilling far beyond city limits, Raville would like to see Denver return to the concept of supervised sites. “Overdose prevention sites are legally sanctioned and supervised facilities designed to reduce the health problems associated with drug use, including reducing the num- ber of fatal overdoses,” she says. “It is a public- health approach to reducing overdose deaths and supporting people who use drugs.” And it doesn’t hurt library lovers, either. Email the author at conor.mccormick. [email protected]. NEWS KEEP UP ON DENVER NEWS AT WESTWORD.COM/NEWS Lisa Raville would like to open a new chapter on safe injection sites. JAKE HOLSCHUH Arvada Library is closed. JCPL
