PORTLAND, Ore. — Mayor Ted Wheeler's office on Wednesday released the details of a proposal to outlaw public drug use in Portland, punishable by fines or jail time.
The proposed ordinance, which Wheeler intends to introduce at a city council meeting next Wednesday, would add "consumption of a controlled substance" to an existing city ordinance that bans the public consumption of alcohol.
Wheeler's office indicated that the city code would not directly contradict Measure 110, approved by Oregon voters in 2020, which decriminalized user amounts of drugs. Instead of criminalizing possession, the new ordinance would ban the public injection, ingestion or inhalation of controlled substances like fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and meth.
Specifically, the ban would apply to public property, streets, sidewalks or on the public right-of-way. Violations would be punishable by fines of up to $500 or up to six months in jail, to be determined by the courts.
The proposal includes a carve-out for people taking prescribed medication in public, just as existing code allows for drinking alcohol in public at permitted bars, cafes or community events.
As introduced, the amended city code specifically says that it is the city's intent "that alternatives to criminal punishment may be imposed whenever practicable for any violation," although it's not entirely clear how that would work in practice.
“This ordinance would amend our public consumption of alcohol ordinance to include controlled substances and outline clear and familiar expectations," Wheeler said in a statement. "This is a commonsense approach. We must make it clear that people cannot use drugs in public spaces. I appreciate that this ordinance has support from the Portland Police Bureau and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office, and it will take all of us working together to make the kind of systemic change our city needs.”
'Something to break the cycle'
Like anything else in the sphere of criminal penalties, police officers will inevitably be relied upon to enforce the ban on public drug use. The Story's Pat Dooris talked to Aaron Schmautz, president of the Portland Police Association, to get his take on the proposal.
"I've said a couple of times we're never going to arrest and we shouldn't arrest our way out of an addiction problem that is, at the core of itself, a health issue," Schmautz said. "But people who engage in narcotics use on the street create some mobility issues. They also very often engage in low-level criminal conduct to support that habit."
"We need to be focused on getting people into treatment," he continued. "If we have people on the street, however, who are resistant to that treatment, who are daily engaged in conduct that is creating police calls, that is creating safety issues, that's where that enforcement comes in."
Schmautz agrees with others in the criminal justice system who argue that jail stays can be an important intervention for some individuals.
"There was a town hall that I did earlier in the year where a mother who had lost her son to addiction on the streets of Portland, you know, she was just weeping afterwards and saying, she said to me directly ... 'The only time I knew that my son was alive was when he was in jail.' And that's tragic. And to me that is a bigger indication of of the holes that exist in our service community and of just the real depth of despair that exist for a lot of these families and for these people who are experiencing addiction."
"I truly believe there are times when people are so acutely ill and so stuck in this cycle of abuse that they just need a break. They need a stopping point," Schmautz continued. "Now we don't have detox right now, we don't have, really, a place to take people and we need to make sure we have those places ... and also when people are, so either psychotic as a result of their drug use or just unable to stop. I think a program like this, where police do have that ultimate kind of backstop of, 'Look, if you won't stop, we're going to have to stop you.' We're going to have to do something to break this cycle. I think that is an important component in a system."
There are detox centers in Portland, like Hooper Detox Stabilization Center and Fora Health, but both are for voluntary bookings and both tend to have waitlists for beds. Presumably, Schmautz was referring to involuntary holds, like the recently announced addition of sobering beds.
Wheeler's office asked that Portlanders not call 911 to report someone using drugs in public "unless there is an immediate life or safety concern," assuming the ordinance passes. They instead directed concerned parties to call 311 for help with non-emergency reporting.
Response times for non-emergency calls in the Portland area have been notoriously long for several years now, if a response occurs at all, due in large part to increased call volume and staffing shortages among dispatchers, police, firefighters and paramedics.
At Wheeler's direction, Portland police have been conducting foot patrols in areas of downtown known for drug dealing and overdoses, so it's more likely that the ordinance would see use in interactions like those.
In an FAQ accompanying their statement, the mayor's office obliquely addressed whether someone experiencing an overdose would receive a criminal citation. They said that the "top concern" would be administering Narcan and connecting them with medical help, but otherwise did not indicate whether the person would be cited.
Wheeler's office said that Portland police have investigated more than 100 suspected overdose deaths so far this year, which they said was the catalyst for introducing this ordinance now. But critics have pointed out that making drug use more discreet does not necessarily drive down drug use — and it could mean that people suffering from potentially deadly overdoses just become more difficult to find and reach.
In his video statement, Wheeler pointed to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which ranked Oregon number one in the nation for adults and teens reporting an illicit drug use disorder in the past year. The most recent report drew from data gathered between 2019 and 2020.
State-level changes
Just as Portland moves to potentially outlaw drug use, with fentanyl the prime target, the state of Oregon is cracking down on the powerful synthetic opioid as well.
The Oregon legislature has now passed House Bill 2645, which would make possession of one gram or more of fentanyl — or five individual doses — punishable on a criminal level as a class A misdemeanor. That's roughly equivalent to rules for heroin under Measure 110, which is also punishable with a class A misdemeanor at one or more grams.
Penalties of this kind carry a potential sentence of up to 364 days in jail, a fine of up to $6,250, or both.
Advocates say the bill will take fentanyl dealers off the streets. It's less a response to Measure 110, with which it remains consistent, and more an attempt to catch up with fentanyl's relatively sudden rise from obscurity to ubiquity in Oregon.
In a statement, House Republicans pointed the finger at Democrats for refusing to entertain a separate bill that would have ended Measure 110's drug decriminalization component.
“This legislation provides a critical tool to law enforcement to keep our communities safe," Rep. Jeff Helfrich of Hood River, one of HB 2645's chief sponsors, said of the bill. "While I believe we must have real conversations surrounding Measure 110 reform, this bill allows us to start fighting this epidemic and will get fentanyl off our streets.”
The Oregon Health Authority reported that in 2021, nearly 1,300 people in the state died from a fentanyl overdose, and the drug has only become more common in the intervening year.
HB 2645 passed the House in a landslide 59-1 vote, and coasted through the Senate this week in a unanimous 25-0 vote. Five conservative senators continue to avoid floor votes in the chamber.
The bill now goes to Gov. Tina Kotek's desk, where it awaits her signature. When and if she signs the bill, it will go into effect immediately.