Spokane Council reestablishes downtown alcohol impact area and adopts community health impact area requiring Narcan at paraphernalia sales

The Spokane City Council on Feb. 3 voted 6-0 to reestablish an alcohol impact area (ordinance C-36-6-34) for downtown Spokane and to adopt a separate community health impact area (ordinance C-36-6-35) that requires businesses selling smoking or other paraphernalia in the defined downtown zone to make naloxone available during transactions.

Supporters said the measures are tools to improve public safety and reduce visible harms downtown; opponents, including harm-reduction advocates and medical trainees, warned the paraphernalia rules risk reducing access to safer supplies and would shift costs to small businesses.

Raelynn Barton, director of policy and membership for the Downtown Spokane Partnership, told the council the lapse of the alcohol impact area in 2022 coincided with increased public intoxication, litter and drug violations downtown. "Reestablishing the AIA is crucial to ensuring a safer, more welcoming environment for our residents, businesses, and visitors," Barton said, adding the Business Improvement District tracked "over 50 instances in the Business Improvement District of littering in just one month alone." Barton also supported regulating sales of items directly correlated with crime and litter downtown.

Medical students and harm-reduction experts testified sharply against the city requiring business owners who sell smoking supplies or glass to provide naloxone at the point of sale. "From an evidence-based public health perspective, the…