Updated Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024
What is changing Sept. 1?
Beginning Sept. 1, 2024, carrying a small amount of illegal drugs (possession) will be a misdemeanor that can send a person to jail. Under the old law, possession of small amounts of drugs was typically a violation, meaning a person could be fined, but not go to jail. After Sept. 1, if a person is charged with possession, it could mean probation or jail time.
Deflection is a program under the new law to help people get services for substance use disorders, instead of going to jail. Starting Sept.1, instead of taking someone to jail for possession, a police officer can offer deflection to someone who is eligible.
What is deflection?
Deflection is a strategy designed to redirect individuals with substance use disorders away from the legal system and into appropriate treatment and support services. Law enforcement agencies collaborate with treatment and behavioral health providers to create coordinated, community-based pathways to recovery and other services. When the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 4002 in April 2024, legislators included deflection as an alternative pathway to legal system involvement.
Deflection services will offer a pathway for law enforcement to use to deflect individuals. In the coming months, a planned Coordinated Care Pathway Center will function as a space for law enforcement to bring individuals unlawfully possessing drugs for screenings, services and treatment referral instead of booking them into jail. It will be one entry point that creates accountability and healing for all of us affected by addiction. This new Center will be integrated into a much larger continuum of care that includes recovery housing, transitional housing, detox services, and withdrawal services. In the coming months and years, treatment services and beds will expand to fit the community's needs.
Who is eligible for the initial deflection program?
Individuals stopped by law enforcement are eligible for deflection if they possess illegal drugs for personal use, but are not committing any other crimes, and have not failed deflection within the prior 30 days.
Can you share how deflection services will work on Sept. 1?
Like every other county in the state, Multnomah County is coordinating with partners across the county, including law enforcement and providers, to ensure deflection services can be offered in the community on Sept. 1. Beginning that day, the County will offer deflection services through mobile outreach. The Health Department will deploy behavioral health providers and professional peer specialists from community-based partners to respond to law enforcement officers in the field. They will conduct referrals, arrange and connect the eligible person to services.
Who is part of the deflection services peer support team?
The community-based deflection services will be provided in coordination with four key partners: 4-D Recovery, a community-based recovery organization, Volunteers of America (VOA), a community-based organization, OA, PATH (Promoting Access to Hope), a county behavioral health program and Tuerk House, the deflection services coordinator for Multnomah County who will be operating the Coordinate Care Pathway Center when it opens in mid-to-late October 2024.
On Sept. 1 and 2, peer deflection teams will respond from 4-D Recovery. Starting Sept. 3, teams from 4-D, as well as peers from Volunteers of America and the County’s PATH (Promoting Access to Hope) team will provide mobile services.
When will the deflection center open?
Multnomah County’s Coordinated Care Pathway Center is planned to open mid-to-late October, 2024. On Aug. 19, Chair Jessica Vega Pederson updated the timeline for the deflection and sobering center, originally slated to open Sept. 1, 2024. Additional time was needed to meet critical staffing levels and training standards for registered nurses and other staff at the Center and give more time for neighborhood and community engagement in the process.
Where is the Center?
Multnomah County has leased a facility at 980 S.E. Pine St., Portland. The Coordinated Care Pathway Center will have onsite staff and security, and transportation services will be provided, including to home, shelter, services, treatment.
Why did you choose this location?
Multnomah County staff assessed program criteria and determined what type of building would meet these needs. From the beginning, staff viewed deflection programming as a system to include any pathway that a law enforcement officer could connect an individual to a community provider. The Deflection Center is one pathway. The County is working with a number of other community providers to develop alternative pathways. Facility-based requirements are directly related to the program. Some examples include having two separate entrances, ground floor access, and the building being fully sprinklered to meet occupancy type requirements.
How does law enforcement decide who can be referred to deflection?
We recommend you speak with the respective law enforcement bodies. State law says that officers have discretion and each entity has their own protocols.