Devin Hall, 25, and Alicia Jacobs, 38, outside their tent in Marion Square Park in Salem on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (Ben Botkin/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
This article was first published by the Oregon Capital Chronicle .
At Marion Square Park in Salem, tents pop up at dusk in the shadow of the capital city’s downtown.
Public drug use is the norm. Under the shade of trees, users light up pipes to smoke drugs, with no concern about hiding it as teenagers nearby shoot hoops in a basketball court.
Others sit around a picnic table, eating snacks, talking and keeping a close eye on their possessions. Now and then, a Salem police officer strolls through to chat with people and ask how they are doing.
Many have seen others overdose on fentanyl, sometimes fatally. Some of them have experienced an overdose themself. Others turn to other drugs for fleeting comfort and highs, fearful they will become another casualty of Oregon’s fentanyl epidemic, which is behind a surge of opioid overdoses in recent years, killing about 3,070 people since 2019.