Thousands of Oregon residents leaving Portland as city grapples with fentanyl crisis

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOMO) — There was a time when the “Rose City” smelled sweet, according to Erica Hetfeld.

“I feel like when I grew up, we had an independent spirit,” Hetfeld said, standing in a Portland neighborhood near Reed College. “We were kind of tougher than everybody else. A little bit hippie, a little bit hipster.”

The third-generation Portlander settled in with her family at what she and her husband believed would be their dream home, near the cherry blossoms and a tee shot from downtown.

That was, she said, until a break-in at her house in the middle of the day.

“There are two types of people in Portland, someone who's had something happen to them and someone who will have something happen to them,” Hetfeld said. “There is no in-between.”

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Hetfeld said she falls into the former after the thief stole family heirlooms, jewelry, money from her kid’s piggy bank and even went through a medicine closet. She moved her family to the suburbs and makes a direct connection between the break-in and the city’s addiction and public safety problems.

“You get more trouble in Portland for parking in a handicapped spot than you do having a baggie full of fentanyl that could kill a busload of kids. That's wrong,” said Hetfeld.

Data from Portland State University and USA Facts back up the claim and show that people have been leaving Multnomah County, which includes Portland. Almost 9,000 people have left the county since 2019, at a time when fentanyl overdoses have gone in the other direction.

People KOMO News talked to on all sides believe Oregon Measure 110, which decriminalized personal possession of drugs and was approved by voters back in the fall of 2020, changed the direction in the city.

Fentanyl overdoses have gone up 588% between 2019 and 2021, according to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. He said the good intentions of decriminalization were overwhelmed by bad execution.

“We don't have substance use disorder treatment to any great capacity in our state," Wheeler said. "Measure 110 was brought to the ballot by a group of Oregon residents with the hope that, on one hand, they would decriminalize small amounts of personal use of drugs. But in exchange, there would be substantial new resources going into treatment."

“It’s not only the increased presence of fentanyl, but the strength of it,” said Sarah Holland, the director of supportive housing for the non-profit Central City Concern. “You know, Measure 110 is a great illustration of the right problem, not exactly the right solution?”

Holland said supportive housing and building more of it is still a massive issue, and the challenge has only grown in the past few years.

“We have an infrastructure problem that can't meet the need that existed before Measure 110 and certainly can't handle the number of individuals right now who need those services so desperately,” she said.

“If you're a drug addict on the streets of Portland, and you get free food, free housing, free water, free needles, and have $2 fentanyl, why would you put yourself into treatment if you don't have to go?” posed Hetfeld.

And when asked for a solution, Hetfeld said, “In my mind, do we have to repeal Measure 110 that legalized hard street drugs? The folks who passed that measure promised treatment instead of jail time for drug addicts.”

The measure was supposed to use cannabis tax revenue to pay for addiction recovery centers, and now, opponents and even Wheeler acknowledge the money has not flowed the way it was intended.