by Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle
August 5, 2024
Abbey Stamp is taking on a new role that will put her at the heart of Oregon’s fentanyl overdose crisis – and the next chapter of the state’s effort to combat drug addiction.
The 51-year-old longtime Multnomah County administrator will start Oct. 15 as the new executive director of the Oregon Health Authority’s Measure 110 program. Stamp is taking the helm at a time when Measure 110 has reached a crossroads since Oregon voters passed it in 2020 to decriminalize low-level drug possession and plow millions into programs for drug users. The state will recriminalize low-level drug possession on Sept. 1 as counties establish deflection programs to divert people to treatment.
For the last 11 years, Stamp has been executive director of Multnomah County’s Local Public Safety Coordinating Council, which works on criminal justice reform issues and policies in the state’s largest county.
In an interview with the Capital Chronicle, Stamp said she wants to change the perception of Measure 110, which fell out of favor among law enforcement agencies and the public over the lack of enforcement for drug possession. Stamp said it was “really devastating” to her personally that the term “Measure 110” had become a derogatory term.
“I’d like to contribute what I can to change that,” Stamp said. “Measure 110 funding is still intact, and it can still do important things in our communities to help folks get on the journey towards recovery.”
Change of approach
The measure decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs and put a $100 citation system in place without criminal penalties. But as public drug use became rampant, with more than 1,000 Oregonians dying of overdoses in 2023, state lawmakers approved a new misdemeanor penalty to encourage people to enter a diversion program.
Even so, Measure 110 will continue to play a dominant role in Oregon’s fight against addiction. The program, overseen by the Oregon Health Authority, will continue to receive millions of dollars a year in cannabis revenues for addiction programs and support, including treatment, housing, support groups and services run by peers, who are in recovery from drug addiction.
The agency has distributed more than $275 million in funding, health authority data show, but the rollout has been bumpy. A state audit in January 2023 found the health authority’s rollout was fraught with obstacles and red tape.
The authority, which announced Stamp’s hiring on Wednesday, has struggled to fill the position. Angela Carter, the former manager of the program and a naturopath, quit in August 2023 and accused the agency in a letter of ignoring requests for staffing and resources, calling the authority “maliciously negligent,” The Lund Report reported at the time.
Stamp’s hiring will give the agency a fresh start with an executive who has experience as a social worker and administrator.
“As a licensed clinical social worker and administrative leader, Abbey brings to this position expertise as a behavioral health provider and as an equity-focused policymaker,” Ebony Clarke, the authority’s behavioral health director, said in a statement. “Through her leadership, Abbey will continue to create and strengthen intentional partnerships with providers across the state to ensure those with substance use disorders have access to support and services in their communities.”
Stamp’s annual salary will be $141,000, and her program’s budget – not counting grants – is about $7.5 million annually with about 25 staffers.
Path to the health authority
Stamp has worked at Multnomah County since 2004 in different roles, first as a mental health consultant who provided outpatient mental health and alcohol and drug assessment services to youth. She also worked as the juvenile court improvement coordinator and a consultant.
Prior to her county career, Stamp worked as a social worker at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, a clinic that provides services to low-income people. During that time, she provided counseling and advocacy services, including for Spanish-speaking clients.
Her path to social work started with an interest in law school. After graduating in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies from Mills College in California, Stamp went to work for a criminal defense attorney in Portland as a Spanish interpreter and paralegal.
That experience opened her eyes to the need for social justice, she said.
“That was my first foray and where I really began to develop my values and my ethics around criminal justice policy,” Stamp said. “I always really believe that only in very rare circumstances should a human being ever be put in a cage.”
That’s because she saw what happened when people weren’t treated.
“I saw a lot of pain and suffering in the clients we defended, and a lot of illness and a lot of trauma and a lot of untreated housing instability and behavioral health conditions,” she said. “And that is why I chose to go to social work school and not go to law school.”
After graduating with a master’s degree in social work and management from Portland State University in 2002, Stamp started her career.
At this point, she said she is looking for a change after 11 years in her current role, which she said is an “incredibly political environment.”
And Stamp said she wanted to get into a leadership role that can impact policies and programs, rather than be a facilitator and mediator among participants and officials.
“ I want to get back into real programming and agency work and to take on a leadership and administrative role,” she said.
Stamp has seen Multnomah County’s response to the fentanyl addiction crisis up close. She served as the county’s representative during a 90-day emergency declaration the state, county and city of Portland called in January to respond to fentanyl overdoses. She saw up close the efforts to coordinate resources and plan responses, such as police officers on bicycles responding to people in the streets and outreach work.
That work, she said, shows how programs and organizations can work together, especially as new programs roll out under House Bill 4002, the law that recriminalized drug possession.
As she starts her new role, Stamp said she plans to travel the state and meet with local individuals.
Janie Gullickson, executive director of the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon, said Stamp is a good fit for the role and a champion for social justice.
“Her approach is very organized, which I appreciate, because it puts some necessary structure in place when things feel pretty chaotic,” Gullickson said. “I think that’s what she can also bring to the position of executive director.”
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