Officials in Multnomah County, Oregon, reversed course Monday on a plan to hand out “smoking supplies” to Portland’s fentanyl users, just days after the county intended to begin distributing the materials, according to a report.
Tin foil, straws and glass pipes will no longer be handed out to drug users in Oregon’s largest city following calls for delay by two members of the county’s five-person Board of Commissioners, according to the Willamette Week.
“Our health department went forward with this proposal without proper implementation protocols,” board Chair Jessica Vega Pederson told the news outlet. “And in that light, I am suspending the program pending further analysis.”
The plan to distribute the smoking supplies had been set in motion in May.
County officials were going to package the materials with the anti-overdose drug Narcan and fentanyl test strips as a way of advancing “harm reduction” practices for Portland’s drug users.
The plan was established to help fight the deadly consequences of heroin usage. But heroin, which typically is injected, has become less popular than fentanyl, which can be smoked, on Portland’s streets.
County lawmakers said they don’t see how giving smoking supplies to users will contribute to safer drug consumption.
“As it relates to distributing foil and straw to enable fentanyl use, there is no compelling evidence that it is comparable to safe needle exchanges or that the county currently has capacity to connect individuals to treatment who want it,” Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards told Willamette Week.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler voiced opposition to the plan last week, saying he’s against “distributing paraphernalia to encourage using a drug that is the leading cause of death for Americans under 50.”
Fentanyl-related deaths in Oregon rose from 26 in 2019 to 209 in 2022.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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