Fentanyl test strips could save lives, but they’re illegal in KY — for now

By Mark Vanderhoff

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    FRANKFORT, Kentucky (WLKY) — When 17-year-old Parker Rionn of Shelby County began experimenting with drugs, he used pills.

He probably never imagined the pill he took one night would be laced with deadly fentanyl that would kill him, said his aunt, Sydney Romo, while speaking before state lawmakers on Wednesday.

“The night he died, he thought he would take this little tiny pill to go to sleep, and get up and go to school the next day,” she tearfully said.

Romo was testifying in support of House Bill 353, which would remove fentanyl test strips from Kentucky’s list of criminal drug paraphernalia.

The test strips are easy to use and can detect the presence of fentanyl in drugs such as heroin, crystal meth and pills., supporters say.

“Had Parker been educated about the facts of fentanyl and had testing strips in his possession, that maybe would have changed his opinion on taking that pill that night,” she tearfully said during her testimony.

HB 353 passed unanimously out of committee on Wednesday and now heads to the full House for a floor vote. But many observers say the issue would have faced much more opposition just a few years ago.

Fentanyl test strips are illegal because they are grouped in with similar products illegal drug dealers might use to test the purity of products they buy and sell, said Mike Walker of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition.

Despite their capacity to save lives, police in some communities are still charging people with possession of drug paraphernalia, he said.

When asked why he thought that was, Walker replied, “Somebody has a device or material that they can test drugs with, so they must have drugs, so they must be a drug addict. So let’s go down the line and use that last one and make it criminalized, instead of giving them resources.”

But that attitude appears to be changing, Walker said. He cited the Louisville Metro Police Department as one example of a law enforcement agency that does not commonly cite people for possession of the test strips.

At the hearing in Frankfort, several members of law enforcement attended to support the bill. Frankfort Police Chief Dustin Bowman was among them.

“When the introduction to the needle program started, law enforcement was kind of apprehensive, cause what are we saying, we’re saying it’s OK to use, when truly we were seeing people get sick, spread diseases, die from the uses,” Bowman said after the hearing. “So, you have to change your way of thinking if your true dedication is to community.”

For Romo and others, the hope is that a loved one might live another day to have another chance at recovery.

“What we can do today is fight to potentially save another family,” Romo said. “We do not want to see anybody endure on a daily basis the suffering that my family has.”

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