Health District mulls restrictions on display and sale of drug paraphernalia

EPHRATA — The Grant County Health District is considering an ordinance that would restrict the display and sale of drug paraphernalia in convenience stores.

According to Maria Vargas, many of the glass “novelty items” for sale near or next to cash registers at convenience stores are actually pipes — for marijuana, meth or crack — and having them out front makes them too attractive to young people.

“They are everywhere,” Vargas told members of the Grant County Board of Health at a regular meeting on Wednesday. “They are labeled novelty items. Make it a pretty color, give it a pretty name.”

But they are “full-on drug paraphernalia,” Vargas said.

“It doesn’t say crack pipe,” added Grant County Health Officer Alexander Brzezny.

Vargas suggested the county might require retailers to put such “novelty items” behind frosted glass or away from the front register so they are “not so accessible to minors.”

Health District Administrator Theresa Adkinson said that Vancouver has a policy restricting the display of “novelty items” and their sale to minors. According to Adkinson, studies show that when pipes and other items used to smoke or consume illegal substances are “normalized” and publicly visible, people are less likely to believe drugs like methamphetamine or crack cocaine are harmful.

Health Officer Brzezny said this year’s influenza season has gotten off to the strongest start in five years, and told health board members that the first influenze related death was reported in Moses Lake this week.

“It’s almost exclusively Influenza B,” Brzezny said. “Both (Influenza) A and B can be deadly, but B tends not to cause global pandemics.”

Brzezny said at some schools, such as Mattawa School District and the Columbia Basin Job Corps, as many as 30-40 percent of students were absent at any one time because of the flu, and recommended that everyone get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Adkinson also presented a revised $2.5 million district budget for 2020, narrowing the forecast shortfall to $14,500 from the original estimate of just over $44,000.

The gap was narrowed, Adkinson said, because they discovered “a calculation error in employee benefits” for 2019 that will also carry over into 2020. The district has also reduced proposed pay increases for district leaders in 2020. It will be covered by the district’s cash reserves.

However, even with the small shortfall, Adkinson said she did not include possible grant revenue the district has applied for that might come in during 2020.

“There is a fairly modest shortfall,” she said. “This is a very conservative budget, and a vision for what we think might happen.”

However, because the board failed to set a public meeting on Wednesday to solicit input on the budget, a special board meeting for Monday, December 30, at 6 p.m., at the district’s Moses Lake office on 1038 W. Ivy Street, to hear from the public and then pass the proposed 2020 budget.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.