Oregon's shame

When you look at the myriad problems Portland is facing, and getting nowhere on, it doesn't take long to realize that the root cause is not so much the lack of cheapo apartments.

It's drug addiction.

Take a ride on I-405 between the tunnel and the Fremont Bridge, and look at the wretched people living in unspeakable squalor on the sides of the road. Do you think those boys are going into a nice little apartment that Deborah Kafoury builds for them? Dream on.

And who do you think is burglarizing the life out of the city's small business? My guess would be addicts, mostly.

As you ponder that, consider this horrifying story from KGW. It explains –

Per capita, Oregonians 12 and older who sought treatment in 2020 for any kind of substance abuse are the least likely in the nation to find it.

Oregon also ranks worst in the nation when it comes to the percent of its population with illicit drug use disorders, at over 9% of teenagers and adults. Add in legal drugs, like alcohol, and the state ranks second worst at over 18% of those ages 12 and up, just behind Montana.

Prior to the pandemic, things weren’t great: Oregon ranked 47th in access to treatment according to data released in 2020 and 48th the year before.

But not last....

Mike Marshall, the executive director of advocacy group Oregon Recovers, himself recovering from addiction, chose a different word: unnecessary.

"Here in Portland, wait times for getting into treatment are 2, 3, 4 weeks," he said. "It’s probably worse in the surrounding counties."

So why can't the geniuses in Salem get with it? Kate Brown, Tina Kotek, Peter Courtney, the all-purpose bureaucrats running the "health authority," these people have no clue. Or they don't care. Or most likely, both. When they come around scrounging for votes, give them a well-deserved earful about it.