Syringes on the streets: Is intravenous drug use making a comeback in Portland?

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — Portland Police Bureau officers are noticing a recent resurgence in the number of syringes scattered along Portland’s city streets, according to officials.

“There’s really no way to know with certainty why there are more needles out there right now, but it’s certainly something our members at Central Precinct have noticed,” PPB spokesperson Mike Benner told KOIN 6. “I’m told that, in all likelihood, those needles are being used for meth and fentanyl.”

Syringes were once a more common sight on city sidewalks as heroin rose in popularity between 2010 and 2017, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overdose data shows. Local government bodies in Oregon around the U.S. scrambled to address citizen complaints as used syringes littered city streets . However, heroin use subsided when the synthetic opioid fentanyl exploded onto the drug scene in 2015.

Fentanyl is commonly ingested in pill form or with blotter paper, used as a powder, or taken through an eye dropper or nasal spray, the National Institute on Drug Abuse states. However, according to accounts from Portland drug users, people are switching to injecting the drug, Multnomah County Health Department Communications Coordinator Sarah Dean told KOIN.

“The County has received anecdotal information from clients at our harm reduction clinic that they may be switching to injecting fentanyl due to the lower potency of fentanyl powder,” Dean said. “However, we haven’t seen a marked increase yet in our data reflecting an increase in demand for syringes.”

If true, the Multnomah County Health Department said that it has serious concerns about people switching to intravenous fentanyl use.

“We are particularly concerned with an increase in overdose risk and the risk of bloodborne infections like HIV and Hepatitis C, skin infections and abscesses, and heart infections when someone switches to injecting fentanyl compared to smoking fentanyl,” Dean said. “Fentanyl more rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier when injected compared to smoking, which can lead to a stronger effect and a higher overdose risk.”

Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are overwhelmingly the largest cause of overdose deaths in the U.S. More than 73,800 people died overdosing on synthetic opioids in 2022, primarily fentanyl, according to the CDC. In comparison, 5,871 people died of heroin overdose in the same period.

House 4002, a law passed in Oregon that rolls back aspects of the voter-passed Measure 110 in 2020. The new law re-introduces criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of hard drugs.

Multnomah County is working to open its first “ deflection center ” in October as drug possession is set to be recriminalized in Oregon on Sept. 1, per the passage of House Bill 4002 . The center, located in Portland’s Buckman neighborhood, will give arrested drug offenders the choice of seeking addiction treatment or going to jail.

The drug-user, drop-off center was supposed to open on Sept. 1, but the opening was delayed until mid-to-late October amid ongoing concerns about how the facility will operate.

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