Now to a story that really lit
up our inbox over the weekend.
Late Friday, Willamette Week broke
the news that Multnomah County would
start handing out supplies for smoking,
fentanyl and other drugs.
We're talking about things like tin
foil pipes, straws, snorting kits.
As you might imagine,
it was instantly controversial.
So controversial, in fact,
that just two hours ago,
County Chair Jessica Vega Peterson
announced the county will suspend the
plan quote pending further analysis.
She seemed to throw the health
department under the bus,
saying they did not follow proper protocols.
So why did the county undertake
this plan in the 1st place?
We had a chance to ask the
county's public health director,
Signs of life taken too soon.
Scattered throughout Portland,
many of these makeshift memorials are
for someone who died from an overdose.
People just don't know.
What effect it's going to have on their
system, let alone the potency of it.
Portland police have investigated
more than 130 suspected deadly
overdoses so far this year,
many of them from fentanyl.
Brent, who is homeless in Southeast,
sees it first hand.
I've seen a lot of people die,
too, and it's it sucks.
Multnomah County's harm reduction program
planned to hand out smoking supplies
like tinfoil straws and glass pipes.
County officials argued that smoking drugs
is safer than injecting with needles.
Jessica Guernsey,
the county's public health director,
said it was an effort to reach more
people struggling with addiction.
They've seen a 30% decrease in the
number of people coming to them for help.
If they're not coming into
any health services at all,
and we're not engaging them at all,
quite honestly,
people die in the shadows,
and that's what we're trying to avoid.
I don't think it's a horrible idea if
everybody keep it cleaned up, you know,
this man has gone to the
county's Harm Reduction Clinic
in Northeast Portland for help.
I'm trying to stop using.
It seems like I'm like losing my mind,
like I have to smoke in order to be
able to think properly, you know,
poor The mayor, Ted Wheeler criticized
the plan, speaking out shortly after
the county's plan became public.
I think the county's decision.
Around handing out tinfoil and
crack pipes is deeply misguided.
Just recently you were talking about making
open air drug use illegal in Portland.
Did this come as a surprise to you?
Were you consulted at all by the county?
There was no notification to me,
no notification that I'm aware
of to any of my colleagues.
Obviously this is something we
would have wanted to have a voice
and we would have opposed it.
Multnomah County Commissioners
heard the criticism loud and clear.
Late Monday, County Chair Jessica
Vega Peterson announced they
were suspending the program,
saying the health department
did not follow proper protocols.
And we'll be asking what those
proper protocols should have been.
One piece of this story that we think
is incredibly interesting is how
county health workers feel about this,
including those who work at the centers that
would be giving out the smoking supplies.
Before the announcement this afternoon
that the program was being paused,
Blair Best visited one of the
clinics that it started giving
out the supplies last week.
And the workers there seemed surprised
that we showed up to even ask about
it. All right,
so now we're in Northeast Portland,
and on that white sign there behind me,
it says Multnomah County Health
Department Harm Reduction Clinic.
And this is where they set up on
Mondays at 11:00 AM And it's these
types of clinics that they'll
be handing out these supplies.
So I went inside,
asked if we could talk with someone.
They said no.
I asked if we could just see the supplies.
They said no.
But while I was sitting there,
I did see they had a big whiteboard and
on it said new harm reduction supplies
being handed out starting July 3rd.
And the list of supplies
was things like foil kits,
snorting kits, bubble pipes,
everything that we've been saying
that they're going to be handing out.
And you know, around the the
whiteboard with signs that said,
you know, we heart drug users.
Things like that.
Just a lot of information
for people who use drugs.
And so,
yeah,
they they didn't seem to understand
why this was such a big story.
They were a little alarmed that
we were out here shooting video.
There are other stations here as well.
So that was a little eye opening to me.
All right, that's our Blair best.
Hey, we'd love to hear
your thoughts about this.
Are you happy with the county pressing
pause on the plan or did you want to
see it happen because you think it
would have helped those on the streets?
Share your thoughts William.
The e-mail again is the story at kgw.com or?
Call and leave us a voicemail
503-226-5090.