Moving beyond addiction: Portland-area advocates, police see signs of improvement

Officer James Weed patrolled in his squad car through Hillsboro in November, checking on the welfare of people in the Portland-area suburb. 

An officer for 14 years, Weed has seen the flow of drugs into Washington County. A former undercover narcotics detective, he saw fentanyl flood into Hillsboro and open drug use flourish after Measure 110 passed in 2020 and decriminalized low-level drug possession. 

On this day, he drove slowly through a lot at a city park shelter, where he found a man with methamphetamine and paraphernalia. They talked and another police officer arrived to put the man in handcuffs and search him. 

He was not sent to jail. Jose Martinez, an outreach supervisor for 4D Recovery, a treatment and recovery provider in Washington County and the Portland area, arrived. Police introduced Martinez to the man, who received a citation for misdemeanor drug possession — and encouragement to enter recovery. 

This scene typifies Oregon’s new response to the drug addiction crisis that worsened after the state decriminalized low-level possession, prompting lawmakers to backtrack and recriminalize it again while trying to steer people away from drugs.

Washington County is one of 28 counties in Oregon that have launched deflection programs, which offer treatment to people caught with a small amount of drugs. With the recriminalization of low-level drug possession in Oregon on Sept. 1, the idea is to avoid packing the jails while helping people in addiction recover. 

Oregon’s drug crisis has been exacerbated by the spread of fentanyl in the last five years. More than 1,400 Oregonians died from opioid overdoses in 2023 — 532 in Multnomah County and another 88 in Washington County. 

Even people who are not eligible for deflection are encouraged to enter recovery services through court-ordered diversion programs. In his case, the suspect had a pending charge already, making him ineligible for deflection. But efforts to steer him into recovery still continued. As the squad car pulled away, the man and Martinez were at a park bench, talking. 

That’s often the first step away from drugs.

Weed said since drug possession became a misdemeanor following the passage of House Bill 4002 last year, he’s seen fewer overt signs of drug use in Hillsboro. 

“It used to be like you would walk up and there’d be like, 20 people out on the sidewalk,” Weed said. “You’d see foil, you’d see meth pipes, you’d see whatever, and now you just don’t see it anymore. It was like, within the first month, it completely changed.”

Washington County deflection

House Bill 4002 gave each county the flexibility to design their own deflection programs and set boundaries for who qualifies for the services. People with an open criminal case are excluded. But others can opt for deflection rather than face criminal charges, and if they finish the program, the pending charges are wiped away.

Statewide, 416 people in 28 Oregon counties have entered deflection since the programs started, some as early as September. Of those, 313 are still participating and 77 did not finish the program, state data shows. A total of 26 people have successfully completed the programs.

In Washington County, 41 people have enrolled since the system was set up in September, and two have finished the program, officials said.

County officials decided to give people facing charges only seven days to decide whether to enter the deflection program instead of the court system. 

Kevin Barton, Washington County’s district attorney, said that window is narrow to engage with people sooner.

“We want to decrease the odds of an overdose or an overdose death, or someone failing to appear or moving on,” he said. “We want to make sure we have very close in time contact with them, with the peer.”

Not every police call about low-level drug possession leads to a recovery peer showing up to assist officers. 

But the county still tries to have peer mentors — people who’ve struggled with an addiction and are now sober — to connect with everyone stopped for drugs. 

Barton said his office’s goal is to steer as many people as possible toward treatment.

Prosecutors may determine that there wasn’t enough evidence in a case to press charges, but will still refer the person to recovery providers for treatment and related services like housing.

Deflection services start with an assessment of the person to determine what they need, from counseling to medication and therapy. They are expected to stay in the program for up to six months and there is no requirement that people maintain sobriety for a certain length of time. 

After six months are up, the person is successfully discharged if they have participated in treatment during that time.

For many, completion of the program is the start of a long recovery — not the entire journey — and the program’s planners recognize that. 

“If we believe that more likely than not, they’ll continue to meaningfully engage after deflection, then we’ll consider that a successful deflection, sure, so it’s not requiring someone to be perfect,” Barton said. “But at the same time, it’s definitely making someone jump through the hoops to get assessed and then actually engage in treatment.”

Addiction specialists say that people can and often do relapse while still making progress. 

“If you understand addiction, you understand that relapse is part of the recovery process,” said Bernard Gyebi-Foster, CEO of Tuerk House, a Baltimore-based drug and alcohol treatment provider that runs Multnomah County’s temporary deflection center.

Officials also understand that addiction can affect anyone and that multiple services are needed to address the problem — and not just those offered by deflection programs. 

4D Recovery operates recovery houses throughout the tri-county Portland area for people who are trying to turn their lives around. Sara Barger, 4D’s lead spokesperson, said it can take multiple attempts for people to move beyond addiction. 

“These people are somebody’s kid, somebody’s mom, somebody’s dad, somebody’s grandparent,” Barger said.

Drugs flood into the region

The Portland area and beyond offers easy access to illicit drugs, from meth and cocaine to fentanyl and heroin. They flow up the Interstate 5 corridor from Mexico and spread across the state, distributed by small and mid-level dealers like a middle-aged woman who lives near Portland. 

The woman, who requested anonymity to shield herself from law enforcement, said she’s earned her living over the past four years by selling drugs full-time. 

“I did start out because I wanted to get high for free,” she said, displaying a bag of crystal methamphetamine. 

A friend gave her a list of customers and she slipped into a life of easy meth and daily caution. Her supplier, who lives in the Salem area, buys quantities of 20 to 50 pounds at a time, breaks that down and sells 2 to 3 pounds to dealers like her, called “plugs” on the street.

As a plug, she sells 1- to 7-ounce bags of meth to other dealers, who divide it further, pushing what’s called an eight ball on the streets — an eighth of an ounce. And sometimes, she sells directly to the end user, but never less than an ounce. 

She fetches $130 to $150 per ounce.

In one round, she purchased a pound and a half for about $1,800, divided it up by breaking the crystal with a hammer and scooping pieces into plastic bags. 

She’s never been arrested and she takes precautions to minimize the charges if she gets caught.

She offloads it quickly and doesn’t stockpile meth at home.

“I only take what I’m selling, and usually we put it in a cigarette pack,” she said. 

If it’s more than an ounce, the drugs go into a larger package, like a cookie bag. She tries to limit the amount she carries to hide it more easily. 

“The risk is only when we go pick it up,” she said.

She doesn’t discuss her business with strangers and only sells to new customers who’ve been referred to her by ones she knows. She also won’t sell to minors or pregnant women.

The world of drug dealing is different from the stereotypes, she said. Dealers, including suppliers, are often clean-cut looking people. 

They don’t look like gangsters, she said.

The same is true for many users. Her clients include attorneys and government employees.

She has no plans to alter her business with the recriminalization of drug possession and she doesn’t think demand will ease.

“Nope,” she said. “Not gonna happen.”

Dozens join program in Multnomah County

If she were stopped after her pickup in Salem, with 2 pounds of meth, she would not be eligible for a deflection program and would potentially face years in prison if convicted. But if she were caught with enough just for personal use, substantially less than an ounce, she would be eligible for the deflection programs in Marion and Washington counties if police had no other evidence of possible drug dealing.

If she were arrested in Portland with a small amount, she’d be taken to  the Coordinated Care Pathway Center, which opened in October and serves as a temporary spot to provide deflection services in Multnomah County, which include an initial assessment and referrals to providers for services like treatment, counseling and housing. 

Multnomah County, the largest county in Oregon, has had the biggest response to its program statewide, with more than 150 people starting deflection services since September.

That journey often starts with police dropping people eligible for deflection off at the Tuerk House-run center in Portland’s central eastside. They’re given an assessment, a medical evaluation and talk with staff about next steps to aid their recovery, such as how to access shelter and options for possible treatment. Recliners inside the center offer a way for them to decompress and rest. 

After their initial assessment, participants have 30 days to engage in recommended services. But unlike Washington County, there’s no explicit requirement to enter drug treatment. To complete the program, a person can engage in other services after an assessment, like housing assistance. 

Multnomah County can only serve people in the deflection program on an out-patient basis. But it plans to purchase a building in Portland and open up a 24-hour crisis and stabilization center, possibly in 2026. It will have up to 50 beds and offer a variety of services for people in the early stages of managing their withdrawal symptoms.

In eastern Multnomah County outside Portland, Gresham police can drop off people who are eligible for deflection at a treatment center run by 4D Recovery.

Gyebi-Foster of Tuerk House said the program needs several options to help people when they are ready. 

“A patient may want to engage in one minute and in another minute they change their mind,” he said. “And so when you are dealing with addictive disorders, one of the things that you need to understand is what we call the ‘stages of change.’” 

Patients deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, just as someone would be treated for cancer or kidney disease, he said. And officials need to be patient. 

“This thing didn’t happen overnight in Portland, and it’s not going to be resolved overnight,” he said. 

Long-term battle ahead

It’s also going to require continual funding.

The state gave counties a one-time infusion of cash, based on population, to set up and run their deflection programs. Multnomah County, with about 790,000 residents and the state’s most populous, received $3.9 million.

Washington County, with about 600,000 residents and Oregon’s second most populous county, received about $1.4 million.

Barton, the Washington County district attorney, said that’s not enough money to meet the need. The county does not have enough peers to immediately respond to every police call, especially in outlying areas. 

“We just did not have enough funding to really set the program up the way we’d like to set it up,” Barton said. “That’s really unfortunate, because it feels a little bit like you’re doing this with one hand tied behind her back.”

Barton said everyone should have the same access and opportunity, regardless of where they live. But because there are more police — and residents — in population centers than in the country, peers are more likely to meet with a suspect in Hillsboro than in an outlying rural part of the county.

“The goal is to see if we can get one of those peers out to the scene and do what I call a warm handoff where the police officer actually connects the peer up to the person who’s been cited right then and there,” he said.

Police officers, like Weed in Hillsboro, approach each encounter one at a time. And they’ve seen slow changes. Since low-level possession was recriminalized in September, Weed said he no longer sees the open air drug use at the level he once did.  Many of the people who regularly used drugs in public are no longer out and about.

Sometimes, Weed hears they are doing better.

“It’s a never-ending battle, but all you can do is help the people that want help,” Weed said.

Reporter Ben Botkin produced this story as a 2024 USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism national fellow and engagement grantee. 

The rest of the series can be found here:

Part 2: Clatsop County’s program shows some signs of success

Part 3: In eastern Oregon, drug use often lurks in the shadows

Part 4: Oregonians have mixed feelings about new deflection programs