OPINION: Fentanyl should be added to child endangerment law

This editorial was published in The Seattle Times.

———

About 2 a.m. March 5, 2022, Seattle medics and police responded to a call about a 2-year-old girl who had ingested fentanyl.

The father said his daughter had taken pills kept in a diaper bag, which included other drug paraphernalia. Because he was concerned about outstanding warrants, he waited about 30 minutes before flagging someone to call 911.

The child was rushed to Seattle Children’s hospital and police reports indicate she was stabilized. Her 39-year-old father was booked into jail and charged with a misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty and spent two months in jail.

State child endangerment law makes such accidental or negligent poisonings a felony — but only if the incident involved methamphetamine.

A bill now in Olympia would change that, specifically adding fentanyl.

If you thought that such a proposal would be uncontroversial, guess again. Lawmakers risk allowing ideological grudge matches to get in the way of protecting kids.

Of the 56 incidents involving accidental ingestions and overdoses by children in Washington in 2022, 24 involved kids 11 years old or younger. Fentanyl was the most common drug involved in these incidents, according to a state report last year.

In a joint letter to legislators, Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison and King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion urged lawmakers to make this change. They noted that an adult can be tried for felony manslaughter if a child dies from intentional fentanyl exposure. However, if the child is seriously harmed or endangered, the prosecutor’s office cannot file felony charges because fentanyl is not included under the 2002 law that pertains only to methamphetamine.

They wrote: “In this short legislative session, we ask you to act with urgency to safeguard the lives of children and close this gap in our state criminal law.”

On Jan. 24, the state Senate passed SB 5010 to specifically include fentanyl in the endangerment law by 48-1, with only state Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, voting nay.

But Manion and Davison’s pitch is falling on deaf ears in the House Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry Committee, where the committee chairperson predicts it is certain to die.

“I literally don’t have one vote for that bill on my committee,” said Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, committee chairperson.

“An overwhelming number of my colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus do not want to criminalize parents. The war on drugs has clearly failed. Substance use disorders are at the root of this and people are not going to stop because they’re addicted. The criminal penalty only makes it worse for everyone.”

Labeling every public safety measure on illicit substances as part of a discredited war on drugs is simplistic and doesn’t reflect the terrible toll of the current epidemic.

A child injured from accidental exposure to fentanyl should be taken with the utmost seriousness by law enforcement and others. Waiting for a child to die before felony charges can be considered is unacceptable.

Ultimately, this debate is about how our state considers the well-being of children. Protecting kids must be paramount in every policy decision.

TNS