Thanks, Beaverton

They made a huge fentanyl bust in downtown Portland near Portland State the other day. But most of the work was done by cops from out of town. It doesn't look like the Portland police were too interested, although they "helped" find a car, whatever that means.

The Westside Interagency Narcotics Team received a tip in July from the Alameda County Narcotics Task Force about a large amount of fentanyl being moved out of Oakland, California, according to the news release. The task force had learned that the fentanyl was going to be smuggled into Portland.

Narcotics Team investigators, with help from the Portland Police Bureau's Narcotics and Organized Crime Division, found a vehicle parked along the South Park Blocks near the intersection with Southwest Jefferson Street, which they believed contained a large amount of fentanyl.

The team found Jorge J. Alas-Avila inside the vehicle when they approached and eventually detained him, learning that he was wanted on a narcotics-related felony warrant. The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office assisted in applying for a search warrant, according to the news release, and once it was granted, investigators searched the vehicle and found about 40,000 fentanyl pills and about 18.4 pounds of powdered fentanyl, together weighing about 28 pounds....

The Westside Interagency Narcotics Team includes officers from the Beaverton and Hillsboro police departments, the sheriff's office, the Oregon National Guard's counter-drug program and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations.

Oh, and looky there, Mikey's office "assisted" in getting a warrant. Bully for them. According to Mikey, I thought there wasn't supposed to be a "war on drugs." Nice of him to lower himself just this once. 

I feel so safe now. As Mister Rogers's mother said, "Look for the helpers."

Meanwhile, I was horrified to read that dogs in town are regularly overdosing on fentanyl leftovers they find on the sidewalk. But that paled in comparison to the next story, about how human toddlers are finding fetty lying around at their day care and dying from it.

You turn the page again, and clowns are still telling us, after nearly three years, that we need to give street drug legalization more time. It will work, eventually. Sure, after every junkie in the country comes to Oregon and dies here. Open-air hospice for addicts. 

You just want to see somebody put it on the ballot again and watch what happens. I guess that's not in the cards. There's no "dark money" available for "harm reduction" to society in general.