Harm reduction help may come from county

While Sen. Lisa Reynolds says wait 'til next year, the county may provide quicker route

County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards.

Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards announced that she will co-sponsor bans on mobile units that dispense needles and “harm reduction” supplies within 1,000 feet of K-12 schools last night at a virtual town hall meeting.

“We can set standards. It’s within our authority,” Brim-Edwards said, setting a May 28 date for county adoption. “We’ve had a very positive reaction to the ordinance.

Brim-Edwards, a candidate for county chair, conceded that the ordinance is a starting point, but “the county can work quicker. Ultimately the state may need to provide a better framework, but the county can do this relatively quickly, getting it before the commission within a month.”

Efforts to clamp down on open drug-related activity have arisen from weekly handouts by Portland Peoples Outreach Project, which had distributed at Northwest 19th and Burnside streets before resurfacing near the Northrup Street Shelter on Northwest 15th Avenue.

“I can get this version through. I have a lot of sympathy, but I also expect organizations to follow the rules. If they don’t, they’re bad actors.”

That was a different message from the one District 17 State Sen. Lisa Reynolds had given local neighbors who have worked with the state legislature for more than a year to accomplish such a ban. While killing a bill written along similar lines in her committee this spring, Reynolds said she plans to introduce a broader ordinance at the state level in November.

The online town hall meeting soon went in direction Reynolds did not like, and 23 minutes into the meeting she requested that the chat comment function be shut down.

John DiLorenzo, a Stadiumhood area property owner and lawyer with Davis Wright Tremaine, asked the senator if she would consider giving citizens a right to sue those who illegally distribute drug paraphernalia.

“That’s just not something I can do,” Reynolds said. “We try to use that sparingly, and that’s not something I feel comfortable bringing forward.”

“We’re enabling,” said longtime Pearl resident Ken Thrasher.

“I know some people don’t believe in harm reduction,” Reynolds replied, “but this is where we stand right now. We don’t want to do away with harm reduction entirely.”

Kara Colley, president of Friends of Couch Park, said, “We’ve been working on this since 2024. The city and the county told us ‘we can’t do anything, this is at the state level.’

“So I’m very frustrated but also happy [about a county ordinance]. But do we know that this can happen, given that Oregon State Law says needles aren’t drug paraphernalia?”

“Not to be flip, but I’ve been working to get guns out of schools for eight years,” Reynolds said, adding that she feels good about barring needle handouts within 1,000 feet of K-12 schools.

Twenty-three minutes into the meeting, Reynolds shut down written chat comments.

“It’s getting really inappropriate,” she explained.

Sandeep Divekar, who lives in the South Park Blocks, echoed frustrations about open drug use, both in front of the main downtown library and in front of preschools on the Park Blocks.

“I’m an immigrant from a third world country, how is this even possible? I pay $14,000 a year in property taxes to the county. … [yet efforts to reach officials have resulted in “crickets, or I was basically told to pound sand.”

Brim-Edwards said she’s not satisfied with the current revolving door.

“I have a sense of urgency and I know the community does, too,” she said.