An Alberta library's new take on access to information: Drug testing kits

An Alberta library kicked off the year with a unique pilot program that blends harm reduction and access to information principles to help address the provincial opioid crisis. 

The Banff Public Library partnered with primary care networks in the area to offer free drug testing kits across the Bow Valley in the lead up to New Year's Eve. 

"If you think of the traditional place of libraries, you have the patrons, and a public, that wants to know things, and a library facilitates getting that knowledge," said the Banff library's Jessia Arsenio. 

"In this case, it's 'am I going to be safe tonight? How can I make sure of that?' People do want to know what is in the substances they're taking; they just often don't have the tools to confirm that information." 

Before working at the library, Arsenio occasionally sold stickers — this year's batch was emblazoned with a snowboarder and the words 'Banff Broken Bones Club' — donating the proceeds to charity. Earlier this year, he took up a project that was half street performance, half nightlife outreach coordinator.

Arsenio would ride his bike around town playing music, during which he'd help revellers find cabs, comfort those who "seemed to be having a bad time" and check in on peer groups he knew were using substances. Through this time, and with this year's batch of sticker profits going toward harm reduction, he'd ask people what they'd want to see the money spent on.

"Most people just didn't want to be accidentally taking fentanyl," he said. 

When Arsenio approached the library, where he works as an access and inclusion assistant, it seemed well-suited for the organization, which is moving toward deploying more social wellness programs. In addition, Banff has an earned reputation for a place people go to enjoy themselves, he says. 

"People come to Banff to work, to enjoy themselves, and sometimes to party."

The fentanyl-testing kits are one tool that may help mitigate the opioid crisis in Alberta. 

If current trends continue, opioid deaths in the province may be on track to match or slightly exceed those in 2021, the deadliest in Alberta's history. According to data from the time period that has so far been released by the province, there were 976 drug poisoning deaths from January to August 2022, compared to 969 in the same period the year before. 

Rather than taking an abstinence only approach to the public emergency, Arsenio wants to keep people safe and reduce stigma. 

"This isn't about moralizing it, it's just about providing one tool," he said. "I'm handing out helmets, but I'm not telling people to get on a bike. As far as I'm concerned people are going to be cycling anyway." 

Not everyone, however, is on board with the approach. A spokesperson for the United Conservative government's mental health and addiction ministry said they have some concerns around the liability and the potential legality of the practice.