Portland passes ban on hard drug use in public but state pols must OK

Portland City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to enact a ban on the use of hard drugs like fentanyl, heroin and meth on public property in an effort to improve the Oregon city’s livability.

The council voted 5-0 to approve the emergency ordinance which adds criminal penalties to public drug use, including up to six months in jail or a $500 fine, the Oregonian reported.

“These are necessary, common-sense steps to disrupt debilitating drug use on the streets of Portland that does deep damage to our city’s livability, overwhelms our emergency response system and destroys lives,” Commissioner Rene Gonzalez said, according to the local outlet.

However, the ordinance is powerless unless Oregon state lawmakers pass a new law that would allow cities and other municipalities the authority to regulate public drug consumption — which residents voted to decriminalize in a 2020 ballot measure.

The city council also passed a resolution that directs Portland’s Office of Government Relations to lobby state lawmakers to address the proliferation of public drug use — and an increase in overdose deaths.

Fatal opioid-related overdoses increased fivefold between 2018 and 2020 in Multnomah County, which includes Portland, and fentanyl deaths reached a record-breaking 209 fatalities last year, according to the Oregonian.

The street use of hard drugs has also pushed Portland into the national spotlight, with critics viewing the liberal city as a place of lawlessness, despair and homelessness.

Locals are also fed up.

At the city council hearing Wednesday, nearly every member of the public who testified ahead of the vote said they were in favor of the public drug use ban, the newspaper reported.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said there was no time to waste in getting the drug situation under control, according to the outlet.

“The bottom line is this: Week by week the situation is getting worse,” the Democrat said during the council meeting. “We have to focus with urgency to save lives and livelihoods.”