by Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle
July 31, 2024
Multnomah County is at the epicenter of Oregon’s fentanyl addiction and overdose crisis, with homelessness and public drug use on the streets of Portland.
And as a deadline looms to start a new program in September to turn drug users toward recovery, Oregon’s largest county is tempering expectations. In a press conference on Wednesday, city and county officials stressed the epidemic will not disappear immediately or completely. There is no guarantee of immediate treatment for drug users who enter the program. Nor will there be a blanket policy for police to clamp down with arrests for public drug use in Portland, the poster child of fentanyl addiction in the Pacific Northwest.
Multnomah County’s program – and its success or failure – will be the most high-profile test of House Bill 4002, which Oregon lawmakers passed this session to deal with the state’s spiraling addiction crisis.
The legislation established a new misdemeanor penalty for drug possession of personal amounts and allowed counties to start new programs that allow drug users to avoid jail time and charges if they agree to enter treatment or other services. It also unwound part of Measure 110, which decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs and drew wide criticism of fueling public drug use.
Under the legislation, each county will have leeway to shape its own programs, meaning that other counties could have different approaches than Multnomah County. So far, 23 of Oregon’s 36 counties have agreed to start programs. They stretch from Portland’s urban corridor to rural regions like Baker County.
“We’re committed to improving the connections between our behavioral health systems and law enforcement systems so that people do not fall through the cracks,” Multnomah County Chair Vega Pederson said in the press conference. “We must offer people suffering from addiction alternatives to incarceration, or we will be right back where we started. Treatment is the best route to recovery. People’s lives are depending on opening more treatment options, and we are moving swiftly to do so when the drug possession laws change.”
In Multnomah County’s case, officials have contracted with Tuerk House, a Baltimore-based drug and alcohol treatment provider, to operate its deflection center at a cost of nearly $2 million for the first year. Located at 900 S.E. Sandy Boulevard in Portland’s central eastside district, the center will provide initial screenings and connections to treatment and other services, like contact with peers who have experienced addiction themselves.
The work is far from finished – and will continue in the years ahead. In the long run, the county is planning on offering sobering services starting in early 2025, with a permanent center for 2026.
“It’s not going to be a one-day event,” Bernard Gyebi-Foster, the CEO of Tuerk House, said at the press conference.
Oregon’s lack of available treatment is well-established. In Oregon, nearly 80% of people with a drug or alcohol addiction who needed treatment did not receive services, according to the 2024 report compiled by Mental Health America, a nonprofit. That’s above the national average of about 77% and the 46th worst among all states and the District of Columbia.
How it will work
Officials say if someone is stopped by law enforcement and possess illegal drugs for personal use, they will be eligible for the program if they are not committing any other crimes and have not failed deflection in the last month.
To succeed, a person needs to complete a screening, receive a referral to services and engage with the recommended services within 30 days. But that comes with a caveat: It doesn’t mean that a person necessarily has to start their treatment within 30 days. It depends on their individual plan, Pederson said.
“That could be going into housing, that could be getting into detox,” Pederson said.
Those who fail to engage within 30 days can be arrested and charged.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said that the 30-day window provides an “ample opportunity” for people to try and take responsibility. That also means if someone fails to participate in the deflection program during that 30-day period, they would be eligible for arrest or citation if they come into contact with law enforcement during the next 30 days.
Asked about whether police will make arrests to clamp down on public drug use, Day said there will be arrests, but officers would continue to use their discretion and direct people to deflection programs as much as possible.
“To just say that there’s a blanket policy around that would not be appropriate at this time,” he said. “We have to settle into this thing and give it an opportunity to work,” he said.
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said recovery will look different for individuals. And for those who don’t enter the new programs, he said other opportunities to enter programs will exist after charges are filed in court. The law allows charges to be expunged for people to participate in court-ordered diversion.
“We all recognize that addiction and recovery is not a one transaction exchange,” he said, adding that multiple attempts at treatment could be necessary.
Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said the county will track data on the date and location of contacts with people, their demographics and the outcome of referrals to services.
“Accountability for individuals entering deflection is a shared responsibility,” she said, adding that the data will help show gaps in services.
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