PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — The vast majority of people in Multnomah County who avoided drug possession charges by agreeing to engage with the county’s Coordinated Care Pathway center were living on the street.
One county commissioner believes service providers need to do a better job at changing that reality.
The county’s deflection program, by which individuals caught with hard drugs are referred to the center by police, counted a total of 520 individuals referred during the first year of its conception. That’s not including people who were referred more than once. Of those, 65% engaged with the program and 29% completed it, following up on at least one referral to services…