Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said Thursday that the county hasn’t ruled out resuming its controversial plan to hand out safe smoking supplies to fentanyl and meth users. But she indicated that’s not a done deal.
Vega Pederson acknowledged during Thursday’s county commission meeting that she gave the county health department the go ahead in May to purchase glass pipes, tin foil and snorting kits with $82,800 leftover in the syringe exchange budget.
The pilot faced immediate political backlash after Willamette Week brought the plan to light last week. The initiative drew criticism from multiple county commissioners and other politicians including Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican from Happy Valley.
Leaders at the county health department said the pilot program’s purpose was to dissuade people from using needles to inject the drugs, which can lead to more potent, fatal doses and spread diseases, and to build relationships with users who might eventually engage with behavioral health services to try to get clean.
Vega Pederson apologized during Thursday’s meeting that the announcement had come as a surprise to many, including her colleagues on the county commission.
“One thing I tried to do and has been a priority of mine as chair is to really not have surprises for this board,” she said. “I want to apologize to you guys. I think all of us were taken by surprise (with) what happened with this program. This is not how I wanted to see it happen.”
However, the board was present during a May 23 budget workshop in which the health department discussed using the extra money for smoking supplies, said Multnomah County spokesperson Denis Theriault. The board also received information about the planned program during a late June briefing on fentanyl, he added.
But in the wake of the backlash, Vega Pederson announced that she was pausing distribution of safe smoking supplies “indefinitely.” Chris Fick, Vega Pederson’s chief of staff, said Thursday that the future of the program has “not yet been determined.”
Vega Pederson said she wants to wait until the board sees a report on syringe exchange usage and to hear further health department conversations with the commission before any decisions are made.
Health department leaders said they had hoped the pilot program would build trust with drug users who might return when ready for substance use treatment.
“There was an opportunity to use some money … to put $80,000 into smoking supplies to see if a pilot of programs like this could help reengagement,” Vega Pederson said. “We had seen a steep drop off in the number of people using our harm reduction services.”
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards said during Thursday’s meeting that she wholly supports harm reduction efforts such as needle exchanges and the distribution of Narcan and fentanyl testing strips, but she is not yet convinced providing smoking supplies will meet the county’s goals of reducing harm.
Multnomah County Health Department spokesperson Sarah Dean said earlier this week that evidence shows providing safe drug use supplies does not induce more drug use.
Commissioner Lori Stegmann said she appreciates that Vega Pederson has paused the program until more evidence-based data can be evaluated, but she also understands the impact that handing out supplies can have in terms of creating relationships with vulnerable individuals.
“We don’t want to drive people into the shadows,” Stegmann said. “We want to call people in and not call them out. You know, shame and stigma and punishment have never worked.”
Commissioner Sharon Meieran called for Vega Pederson to declare a state of emergency around the fentanyl crisis – a move Brim-Edwards said she would support – to leverage dollars to more quickly and more flexibly provide people with care.
In the meantime, Meieran said she does not support handing out smoking supplies without looking more closely at research. She has, however, supported providing more access to overdose revering Narcan.
“We want to treat addiction, we want people to recover from addiction,” Meieran said. “Addiction is not simply recreational use of drugs or a choice people make, it is a chronic medical condition and causes tremendous harm to individuals and the broader community.”
Nicole Hayden reports on homelessness for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached at nhayden@oregonian.com or on Twitter @Nicole_A_Hayden.
