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, July 31, 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.