The following editorial originally appeared in The Seattle Times:
Last week, three babies in the Everett area were treated for fentanyl overdoses in unrelated cases. Two survived but a 13-month-old died. In 2022, fentanyl was the most common drug in the 24 accidental ingestions involving children 11 years old and younger.
In the last two years, state lawmakers have failed to fix a glaring gap in Washington’s criminal law. Adults who expose children to fentanyl, even if the children are seriously injured, face only a misdemeanor charge. Only in the most tragic of cases — when a child dies of an overdose — are prosecutors likely to pursue a felony conviction for manslaughter, and more serious prison time.
Earlier this year, the state Senate acted to keep children safe, voting 48-1 for Senate Bill 5010 to elevate the crime of exposure to fentanyl to a felony.
But in the House, Public Safety Committee Chair Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, did little more than shrug, choosing not to give the bill a vote. In doing so, Goodman denied a tool to the state’s prosecutors to combat an opioid overdose epidemic — and children will suffer consequences.
Washington’s existing endangerment law allows prosecutors to charge a felony for accidental drug poisoning — if that drug is methamphetamine. To protect children, lawmakers should realign the law to the current epidemic, one in which fentanyl overdoses claimed 1,082 people of all ages in Washington in 2023 — a 51 percent increase over the previous year.
Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, rightly blasted Goodman’s committee’s decision in the wake of the three overdoses of babies in Everett. He noted that addiction is not a crime, but that those who have children in their care aren’t excused from harm that occurs “as a byproduct of their addiction.”
“If being charged with a felony and doing time for exposing minors to fentanyl is what is needed to protect these babies in the future, then we should pass legislation to hold people accountable,” Braun said in a news release.
A misdemeanor simply does not reflect the severity of the crime of poisoning a child because of one’s own addiction to fentanyl. And it shouldn’t take a child to die for a parent or guardian to be charged with a felony.
The Legislature will have another chance in January, when it next convenes. In the meantime, the fentanyl epidemic is sure to claim many more lives, including children.
With urgency, Goodman and his Democratic committee members should reconsider their position and act to help keep children safe.
