Library Services Disrupted at Branches in Littleton, Englewood, Bemis, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Arvada After Toxic Meth Residue Found in Air Vents — SUDs (Substance Abuse Disorders) and Homelessness Link
Drug abuse got worse during the pandemic. And society is reckoning with the complexities of substance abuse disorders (SUDs). These complexities involve the cause-and-effect questions of SUDs. They include considerations of structural, societal, ethical, and personal difficulties. Homelessness is likewise fraught with tangled considerations of individual agency, and social and even spiritual obligation. Obligations of individual humans and of society.
Despite these sensitive angles, the fact is drug use and homelessness overlap. Because of the noticeable unwillingness—by academics, news media, and most public sectors—to research or acknowledge this issue some Colorado library patrons can’t access books, DVDs, newspapers, or the internet. Or bathrooms.
Colorado Library Meth Residue Contamination and Public Health Scare
In the weeks approaching Christmastime, there were 15 complaints over smoking in the bathrooms (some say smoking meth, some do not specify) at Boulder public library. On Dec. 20, they closed the main branch.
Test results on surfaces in the library showed a legally relevant amount of meth residue on ductwork. David Farnan, Boulder Director of Library and Arts, was quoted in The Denver Post: “The meth contamination was primarily in the air ducts,” he said. “By state law, we were required to do remediation.”
Apparently, the affected ventilation did not circulate air within the building: the ducting emptied outside. Besides costly professional decontamination to reduce health risks, desks and seats near the bathrooms had to be tossed. “All porous furniture has been discarded,” said a Jan. 9 statement on the Boulder City website. It added: “Extensive cleaning has been done throughout the library including to the carpets, walls, and HVAC systems.”
A serious problem can arise as there are numerous topical and respiratory symptoms that can result even from such tangential exposure to meth residue.
A String of Public Libraries Find Levels of Meth in or Near Public Spaces
After the Boulder public library scare, three other libraries in nearby counties closed for related reasons. Meth use drug residue was found in, on, or near the public restrooms.
Run Down of Library Closures Due to Methamphetamine Contamination:
- Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak Library district started testing certain branches in February for meth contamination after the rash of nearby incidents. Penrose Downtown branch tested positive. The library closed for several days starting on Feb 27 to Mar 6. A statement from the Pikes Peak Library District downplayed some of the positive results: “the only areas with actionable meth contamination above the acceptable limits are the exhaust system ductwork, fans, and vents in those spaces. Samples from all other surfaces in the restrooms did not result in any actionable contamination.”
- Englewood. After the Boulder County, Englewood Public Library tested for possible contamination in and near bathrooms. Positive results came back on Jan. 11. They’ll remove or replace affected surfaces per Arapahoe Department of Public Health guidelines.
- Littleton. Bemis Public Library in Littleton received its own test results on Jan. 18. A lower-level family bathroom and the main floor men’s bathroom exhaust fans both pointed to contamination. Over 10 times the state’s acceptable levels of residue were found in each location. This is according to Kelli Narde, a Littleton spokeswoman sourced in a Colorado Community Media-affiliated website. An HVAC/instrument control room also tested positive.
- Arvada. Arvada Public Library apparently had enough situations – the type of which are suspiciously unspecified – to warrant testing for meth. “This decision was based on a risk assessment that included reviewing incident reports of all JCPL locations,” according to a Jan. 28 notice on Jefferson County Library’s website. These were preliminary results determined by Envirospec, according to the notice, which also said the library would be closed indefinitely for further testing and safety measures.
- Pueblo. The Barkman branch of Pueblo libraries closed from Feb 27 to Mar 5. Testing began after staff noticed a “smoky, chemical smell” from bathrooms according to Nick Potter, the district’s Director of Community Relations, quoted in the Pueblo Chieftain. Expensive cleaning was ordered after legally unsafe levels of meth residue were found. Multiple media accounts, including CPR, quietly acknowledged increased reports of drug use at the Barkman branch.
Study Appears to Virtually Ignore Illicit Substances as Homelessness Issue
The University of Denver’s Center for Housing and Homeless Research performed the Tri-Cities Family Homelessness Assessment. The report, dated Oct 2020, covered the three cities of Englewood, Littleton, and Sheridan. Only 6% of survey respondents said that drugs were involved in their current homelessness. Only 6% of them also said drugs currently hampered their efforts to get housing.
Homeless and drug use in libraries is part of the story here. The study by the CHHR covers two cities that have closed a library because of meth contamination in the bathrooms. Accurate or not, if only 6% of surveyed homeless caregivers say that drugs were involved in their homelessness, then that is considered data. Because it was by a respected agency at an accredited college, it’s considered evidence-based. As such, it informs policy. Unfortunately, it contradicts long-established realities based on decades of research on the subject.
Clinical Management of the Homeless Patient, a 2021 handbook by leading academic publisher Springer, says as much in the opening sentence of a chapter abstract.
Naturally, full acknowledgment, in any setting, of using drugs is fraught with concern over transparency. Furthermore, the survey respondents were caregivers. They were moms and dads or people in charge of families. “A total of 49 caregivers representing 49 families completed the Tri-Cities assessment.” The study sounds like it assumes that the caregiver will be fully aware of every family member’s drug use.
Further, were the people smoking meth in the library bathrooms simply unwilling to smoke meth at home if they are housed? Would housed persons engage in immediately detectable drug use in a public place? Would they do so in a region with expansive, hilly, forested terrain that offers numerous discrete places for drug use?
The Complexity of Personal Battles Mixed with Unchangeable Real-World Inequalities
The rash of elevated levels of methamphetamine residue found at libraries near Denver has made national news.
There is some discussion in news items of an “epidemic” in both addiction and housing. This discussion suggests that homelessness and drug use are uncomplicated matters easily resolved by data, science, and infrastructure. They appear to minimize the issue that it directly affects library patrons.
Substance use can start as a dangerous means of coping with sudden homelessness. Sometimes it is the cause. The effects of drug use in Colorado’s suburban library bathrooms, regardless of cause, now have limits on a resource that many citizens use.
