Hillsboro Police Officer James Wood shows a packet of methamphetamine found when he cited a man for drug possession in a city park on Nov. 19, 2024. (Photo by Ben Botkin/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Editor’s note: Last September, Oregon recriminalized low-level drug possession, and 28 counties rolled out deflection programs to help people addicted to drugs become sober rather than sitting in jail. Reporter Ben Botkin’s four-part series looks at their rollout and early impact. He spent more than seven months combing through records and interviewing dozens of people, including law officials, providers and people addicted to drugs in Portland area, Clatsop county and eastern Oregon. — Editor Lynne Terry
In April 2024, Gov. Tina Kotek signed an expansive bill that allows counties to put new, state-funded programs in place intended to address the state’s soaring rate of fentanyl overdoses.
House Bill 4002 marked an historic shift in Oregon’s drug policy: It unwound a foundational part of Measure 110 and recriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs. It also paved the way for counties to create deflection programs to allow police to offer recovery services to people who otherwise could face a misdemeanor drug possession charge in court. Those who opt for deflection are not charged in court, nor do they face fines or potential jail time.
Moving Beyond Addiction documents how these deflection programs have worked in regions of Oregon from the coast to the Idaho border. It shows what the programs look like now — and the challenges that lie ahead for Oregon, a state that struggles to serve its most vulnerable people.
PART 1: Portland-area advocates, police see signs of improvement
The deflection programs in the populous Portland area have more resources than elsewhere in the state, with a temporary center where police drop off candidates for assessment and plans for a 24-hour crisis and stabilization center that will likely open in late 2026, with up to 50 beds.
Washington County’s program is smaller but already Hillsboro police have seen quick gains since it was put in place: There is no longer drug use in areas of the city’s downtown that once had prevalent open drug use.
But countywide, officials still have concerns about how sustainable the program will be in the long term. The county cannot afford to dispatch peer recovery mentors to every call to assist police, especially in outlying areas outside Hillsboro.
PART 2: Clatsop County’s program shows some signs of success
In Clatsop County along the coast, a region that’s long battled homelessness and addiction, the deflection program is tailored toward incentives to keep people enrolled. They get small amounts of cash on a cellphone app and other incentives when they keep showing up for group sessions.
So far, two people have successfully finished the three-month program and another four are enrolled.
One of them, Maksym Derevianko, a 45-year-old Astoria crabber, said the program has helped him avoid methamphetamines and enter recovery.
“It shows you that they really want you to be better, to live a better life,” he said.
PART 3: In eastern Oregon, drug use often lurks in the shadows
In rural eastern Oregon, people often live in isolation and addiction, hidden in tucked away encampments.
The vastness of Malheur and Baker counties means that outreach workers are often not able to immediately respond to a police arrest.
Yet efforts to reach people caught with a small amount of drugs and help them obtain services persist.
Peer recovery workers follow up after someone is arrested, armed with information that police give them. They make phone calls, knock on doors and visit homeless camps, hoping to make the initial connections to help people.
PART 4: Oregonians have mixed feelings about new deflection programs
Across Oregon’s recovery community, 83 people lent their voices to a Capital Chronicle survey about the deflection programs. They include people in recovery, people who use drugs and those with loved ones in addiction.
Their views were decidedly mixed — and reflect the daunting challenge that lies ahead. Nearly 60% said easy access to drugs on the streets is a barrier for people who are battling a fentanyl addiction.
But for deflection to work in the long term, they said, Oregon needs to have a wider treatment system to help people. Nearly 64% said inadequate treatment programs remain an obstacle, with or without deflection programs.
One of them, Solara Salazar, runs a company with six houses in Portland for people in recovery.
“Imagine there was a plane crash and there were 300 people with severe injuries,” Salazar said. “911 is called and ambulances arrive and fire trucks. But there is no hospital. They tell the injured people to show up at a hospital the next morning at 7 a.m. and one of them might get seen. That’s our current system in a nutshell.”
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