The state has one of the highest US rates of substance use disorders and ranks last for access to treatment. These initiatives are changing what rehab looks like

Last year, lawmakers recriminalized drug possession, a swift reversal just as Measure 110-funded programs were starting to demonstrate their impact.

Some of the funding for the new treatment and recovery services has, for now, remained intact, with innovative programs chipping away at the crisis, though with reduced resources. The Guardian visited organizations across the state that are successfully turning people’s lives around, meeting with people who have, against steep odds, found recovery.

  • vulgarcynicEnglish
    1·
    5 days ago

    It is fucking wild how much you normalize these behaviors living in Oregon.

    Going anywhere else and not seeing folks doing the fenty shuffle or blasting across 99 all hours of the day in full zombie mode is a weird moment of clarity.

    I truly appreciate all the work being done by these organizations and others like Cahoots. Its a shame we don’t have similar levels of compassionate outreach being offered to anyone fighting those demons across the country.

    Reading about people still deep in it and around my age losing dozens of people seems hyperbolic on the surface but my wife and I still have a moment of cataloging the people we’ve known that Fentanyl has taken every year and it’s never zero.

    Stay safe out there y’all.