Multnomah County announced Thursday it will open a 24-hour drop off center in inner southeast Portland where police can take people who want treatment for drugs as an alternative to jail.
The building is located at 900 S.E. Sandy Blvd., in Portland’s Buckman neighborhood, and came as a surprise to residents and business owners who said they only learned about County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson’s plan earlier this week for what’s being called a “treatment readiness center.”
The facility is part of the county’s efforts to build out a deflection program, part of the state law passed earlier this year that rolled back Oregon’s drug decriminalization law and re-introduced criminal penalties for drug possession.
Multnomah County announced their planned location for a 24-hour treatment readiness center in Portland's Central Eastside on June 27, 2024. Law enforcement will bring individuals in possession of controlled substances to the site, where they may receive referrals to treatment or basic needs services.
Anna Lueck / OPB
On Sept. 1, police in Oregon will be able to charge and arrest people with a misdemeanor if they possess small quantities of illicit drugs. Many counties are scrambling to comply with House Bill 4002, which allows local communities to create deflection programs that offer drug users access to treatment rather than jail.
“This site is open only to individuals referred through law enforcement,” Vega Pederson said at Thursday’s county board meeting. “There will be no walk ups when the treatment readiness center opens on the first day.”
Vega Pederson did not provide additional details, such as who would operate the facility or how it would function. The board will discuss the center more at its July 11 meeting, she said.
Jessica Vega Pederson, left, and Sharon Meieran.
Courtesy of the campaigns
A frustrated Commissioner Sharon Meieran said she was never notified about the plan for the center that is located in her district.
“I don’t enjoy calling these things out, but when information is not provided,” Meieran said, “there are no other options.”
Susan Lindsay, co-chair of the Buckman Neighborhood Association, testified at the county board meeting Thursday, prior to Vega Pederson announcing the center.
“The location has not been revealed even though it’s a public facility funded by public dollars and going to be taken care of by the public – and yet the public is not allowed to know where the location is,” Lindsay testified. “There was no on the ground involvement of anyone from the neighborhood or from the business community in terms of the siting of this.”
Lindsay also said she was concerned that the deflection center could bring people with substance abuse disorders from across the county, and expressed concern about how the center’s operations could affect the neighborhood.
“There may very well be an effort here to remove addicts from Old Town and downtown and transpose them into the Buckman neighborhood,” she said.
During a public safety meeting on Monday, Alicia Temple, who was hired as an advisor by the county to help implement House Bill 4002, said the county was finalizing the lease so it would be up and running by Sept 1.
“The center will serve 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, a resource for law enforcement professionals to drop off individuals and connect them with treatment,” Temple said Monday. “Additionally, county staff are currently soliciting bids for providers to staff and support this work at the drop off center. So, it is all moving along very quickly.”
Temple indicated that the drop-off center was the first part of a longer-term plan. Ultimately, the county would open a permanent sobering center, she said.
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards has pushed for a $25 million sobering center, which she presented to the county board in April. That proposal is different from the temporary treatment center Vega Pederson announced Thursday.
“The Board has not been briefed on what is being decided for the Chair’s approach to deflection, but we know the public and the state Legislature expect results in lowering overdose rates, reducing open drug use, and getting people into treatment,” Eric Zimmerman, Brim-Edwards’ chief of staff, said in a statement. “It remains unclear what this deflection center will do to help those areas.”
Zimmerman said the county needs to be able to focus on its immediate and long-term treatment needs, concurrently.