County: Give 55,000 free crack pipes to addicts

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

KOIN-TV once again exposes a wild government waste in their ongoing investigation as it asked what Multnomah County has purchased and also planning to purchase as part of it’s free drug supplies program to homeless and drug addicts.

Here is what KOIN found:

• 55,000 pipes
• 20,000 pipe cleaners
• 31,000 straws
• 90,000 tin foil sheets
• 184,000 copper scouring pads and brass screens (used as pipe filters)
• 77 cases of chapstick (stop disease spread)

Since the recent uproar, some of these purchases have been put on pause for further review. Not everything taht has been budgeted for has been purchased or given away.

One of the loudest voices against these distributions has been Portland City Commissioner Rene Gonzales . He recently Tweeted “Multnomah County handing out tin foil sends a horrific message in a community that is working hard to restore livability, public safety, and its reputation. Heavy drug use is killing too many, driving crime, deeply damaging livability and devastating our 911 system.Thoughtful harm reduction may have a place in addressing substance use disorder, but handing out tinfoil/straws in a community ravaged by fentanyl is reckless. Unfortunately, it is part of a broader pattern – little to no consideration is given to the impact on the surrounding community as long as an initiative is centered on the “client” – the homeless, the criminal, or the addict. These reckless experiments have brought our community to the brink.Our community needs all levels of government to help people heal, without enablement.”

The County already gives away over three million needless a year to local drug users.

Oregon was rated the #1 worst state for drug addiction and treatment.

Clearly, all these years of free drug supplies is not working if you have the nation’s worst results. Yet, liberals judge the success of a program by the size of the program, not the results.

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