PORTLAND, Ore. — Multnomah County has hit pause on its plan to distribute smoking materials for fentanyl users through the county health department's harm reduction program, a county spokesperson confirmed Monday afternoon.
“Our health department went forward with this proposal without proper implementation protocols,” County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a brief statement. “And in that light, I am suspending the program pending further analysis.”
On Friday, the Multnomah County Health Department confirmed their plans to begin distributing tin foil and straws for street drug users who smoke fentanyl, as well as glass pipes for methamphetamine and crack users and "snorting kits" for those who inhale drugs.
The health department said that the change to its harm reduction program came as a result of a sustained drop in drug users seeking clean syringes, which county workers would use as an opportunity to hand out the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan, check on users' health and provide connections for those seeking treatment.
"If they're not coming into any health services at all, if we're not engaging them at all, quite honestly people die in the shadows and that's what we're trying to avoid," said Jessica Guernsey, Multnomah County's public health director.
Portland police have investigated more than 130 suspected overdose deaths so far this year, and many of them have been from fentanyl.
"I've seen a lot of people die too, and it sucks," said Brent, who is homeless in southeast Portland and has witnessed the impact firsthand.
But news of the new development from the county brought immediate opposition from Portland leaders, including Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Rene Gonzalez.
"There was no notification to me or to any of my colleagues," Wheeler told KGW. "Obviously, this is something we would have wanted to have a voice in. We would have opposed it."
Several county commissioners also expressed skepticism when the news first broke last week.
"Given the unprecedented deaths from fentanyl in our community, I will definitely be asking for more info about this new practice," Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards tweeted on Friday. "The best long term harm reduction approach is treatment & recovery. Urgent focus on acting on that is what is urgently needed."
But in her full statement on Monday, Chair Vega Pederson did not seem to reject the proposal on its face — expressing openness to the Multnomah County Health Department's plan once it gets a closer look.
"My focus has been on saving lives. We’ve seen overdose deaths from fentanyl increase eight-fold since 2019, from 26 deaths to 209 deaths in 2022," Vega Pederson said. "I’m interested in connecting people with life-saving materials like naloxone because we’ve seen a significant decrease in the number of people utilizing our harm reduction resources as fentanyl use became more prevalent. We must connect people to services and continue communicating to those struggling with addiction that your life is worth saving.”
In a statement after Vega Pederson's announcement Monday evening, a Multnomah County Health Department spokesperson said the office would pause the plan immediately and focus their efforts on "expanding our legal analysis to deepen our confidence and assurance in the scope of our operations."
"The Health Department remains confident that a robust harm reduction approach is essential to supporting our community, including people who use drugs, their loved ones, and individuals who experience the secondary and tertiary impacts of drug use in our community," the department said in a statement.