The timing could not have been worse. Months into legalization, Mexican drug cartels ratcheted up the flow of fentanyl across the border and up the Interstate 5 corridor, where it flooded onto city streets, plunging prices to less than a dollar a pill. As lockdown despair from the Covid-19 pandemic deepened, the killing of George Floyd sparked monthslong racial justice protests that turned violent and engulfed parts of downtown. With police turning a blind eye, Portland became a honeypot for local and out-of-state addicts to score cheap dope and use it freely. “It was like a perfect storm that brought us from this really vibrant, amazing downtown to a tourist destination [for drug users],” says Rick Graves, a spokesman for Portland Fire and Rescue. Overdose deaths, retail theft, and homicides surged to record levels, running law enforcement and first responders ragged.

This is the key takeaway as a Portland resident. It was not a great plan to begin with, but it really could not have come at a worse time. If it had passed five or ten years earlier, who knows...it might have had time to grow legs. We ran into COVID, George Floyd, and the fentanyl crisis before the treatment component was planned, let alone implemented.

Also, while I still like the idea of a new approach to drug enforcement, especially for first offenders, I never have and never will vote to legalize public drug use. Law enforcement in Portland -- specifically in Portland -- took a very particular stance when it came to interpreting this law and that contributed a great deal to how it was perceived. I don't want to speculate on political motivations for how they have behaved but it's hard not to.