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Crystal Eichlin, Cecelia Katavich, Wyatt Kolp, Nola Keskeny & Jordan Wright
April 11, 2024
In the state of Oregon, dangerous substances and drugs have fallen into the hands of innocent people, causing many negative effects in their lives. It has been seen and observed in cities like Portland, Salem, Roseburg, Medford, and Pendleton. Much like the town, Brookings, which currently suffers the consequences of drugs.
This ongoing problem swarms prime victims all over the world. It has been witnessed by many citizens of Brookings Harbor in unsupervised places. Drugs are not an uncommon subject throughout the world. Because of Nicotine, Fentanyl, Cocaine and many other illicit drugs, the population has been slowly going down into ruin.
Citizens have stated that drugs affect people a lot more than people think they do. They've seen people act irrationally because of the major effects on the average person. People who are under the influence of drugs have been seen doing various concerning things. They can do things like scream randomly, carry weapons or props, interact in an unusual way and walk around places saying incoherent or loud phrases. It causes lots of distress even from people that are just passing by.
Law enforcers here in Oregon are feeling useless against the recent Measure 110, which is described as “decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, and other illicit drugs in favor of an emphasis on addiction treatment,” according to AP News.
Since law enforcers cannot arrest someone carrying a user amount of drugs, there is no way for them to trace it back to the supplier. Before Measure 110, police could take someone in and question where they received the drugs. Now all they can do is write a citation and charge a small fine.
Detective Jared Freeman of the Curry County Police Department has expressed his concern about how this is not helping the addiction crisis, but possibly making it worse. Once measure 110 passed, our fatal overdoses in Curry County went up 1800% the next year. “We're having double and triple overdoses,” Freeman said.
Decriminalizing a user amount of drugs someone can carry, makes it difficult for police to trace it back to the dealer, and more and more drugs are flooded into Curry County. Drugs are used so frequently here because they are easily accessible.
”My first couple of years working as a patrol officer you never saw heroin, ever. But after the opioid crisis, heroin came back hard. It started becoming purer, they started adding synthetic opioids to it like fentanyl in smaller doses, and then all of the sudden-- the last heroin I sent to the lab that looked like heroin was pure fentanyl.” said Detective Freeman.
Drugs such as marijuana and nicotine are the most common in an average household, but cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl are also common in our neighborhood, and many of them could be lethal.
“Three of the double fatal overdoses I've worked on last year and the year before, none of the people who overdosed were trying to use fentanyl. They'd all bought drugs off the street that had been contaminated with fentanyl,” Freedman said
Many citizens who use drugs and get addicted become homeless, resulting in litter and unsafe environments. These people have nowhere to go, and no way to recover or get better, so they continue using. Detective Freeman says, "When there is no way to stop the drug dealer or the user, it can get out of control.”
In the city of Brookings, there are no homeless shelters, only one rehabilitation center, and no proper resources for us to solve and keep solving this ever-growing problem. Some citizens don't feel safe going into Harbor, and some local parks due to the thought they can be exposed to drugs.
Freeman adds, ”Part of the Measure 110 program was supposed to include 24-hour treatment facilities drug abusers could be taken to instead of jail if caught with user amounts but that hasn't come to fruition, we do not have any 24-hour treatment here besides the hospital.”
Drugs can tear families apart and ruin lives. A father might do drugs, and that can be observed by kids. And then, the children are influenced. Under-age drug abuse is a huge problem in our county, and influence is the main reason. Whether it be friends, family, or partners.
In some cases, drugs are used to take advantage of other people. This is called drug abuse, when a person gives someone a drug for a negative purpose. This happens to anyone, and it can come from someone they might not even know. Drugs can come in multiple forms, like frozen peas, tylenol, and even sidewalk chalk, said Freeman.
Some drugs are laced with the most dangerous drug; fentanyl. The sole purpose of distributing these is silent homicide that traces back to no one but the drug. Most people do drugs for the effect, not the accidental overdose. According to Oregon Public Broadcast, “in the past six years, 348 Oregonians aged 15 to 24 died from accidental drug overdose”.
Drugs affect students too. For example, “Studies show that marijuana, for example, affects your attention, memory, and ability to learn,” said Get Smart About Drugs (.gov). Some teachers don’t know, and have no way of helping them, and are further frustrated and confused why they aren’t pulling their work together in order to achieve greatness.
Addicted students might not have a goal of quitting. And the only goal they have set is using more drugs. Drugs can cause students to lose focus on their academic life, which may lead to them dropping out.
On the other hand there are drugs that are beneficial for people under the legal age, including those of age. It’s hard to escape them when you think they are battling something inside you, but people can be stronger than drug abuse. Escaping problems through substance never works out well for you in the end, both mentally and physically.
Coping mechanisms should never end up hurting you, but should put you in a better place than you were before. It’s hard to find something you like, but trust me, there are hobbies that people can do to distract themselves from drugs, to keep good relationships with the people you care about.
Drugs don’t care about your health, relationships, or values. Drugs destroy. Drug dealers have no pure intentions either. They don’t care about how this could affect your family, your well being, or how drugs interrupt your academics. They only care to make a sale and potentially harm you.
Indulging in drugs is a big investment. It’s gambling everything you value and don’t in life. After drugs, you realize the things you thought so little of that you lost; and you miss those things. After drugs, you miss the freedom of saying “I’ve never done drugs,”. Although ignoring drugs should be the bare minimum; in this society, it’s good to celebrate those who have not done drugs.
People should be proud to know they’ve never fallen victims to drugs or lose relationships to those who do indeed do drugs. Friends and family can be helped, and so can you. We can escape drug abuse as a county.
In past drug cases, a lot of them result in overdoses and some type of abuse towards a person in their lives. Most drug addicts start off with just a little dose, then end up having a bad addiction later on. They continue to do this in more and more doses because their body starts to get used to it. In the most recent survey 12.63 percent of Oregon residents reported “illicit” drugs in the past month in the year 2009-2010, the national average is 8.82 percent according to the National Archive.
Oregon has had issues for a long time that we need to fix. When drugs became the result of decriminalization, people started using drugs a lot more often, which definitely became a major problem. In November 2020 is when this law was passed which makes it where police officers can’t really do anything to a drug user. This makes drugs legal to most, and them being legal lets people do it freely as long as they are not hurting anybody.
People also started to get easy access years ago due to people selling it on the street with no ID or even online with some sites, said Freeman. Due to the easy access more people could get ahold of drugs and start doing them, most people will flip their lives and basically rely on drugs when this happens. If you have a family member that does drugs it can also affect what you do. You may get peer pressured or even forced to do it.
“In December 2023, Methamphetamine contributed to 85% of overdose deaths, and fentanyl contributed to 74%,” according to Fox 59. This is for everyone, homeless or not in the US. Most of the homeless contribute their money to just drugs because they are already living at the lowest, so they use drugs just to become happy.
In the interview, Freeman states “You can't go into any library, any store, or any park without running into the problems that drugs cost,” which is true.
Most of the time if you go out into public you always see a homeless person on drugs and singing or dancing. “The number of Oregon families experiencing homelessness increased by 16% between 2022 and 2023,” according to axios.com. Drugs have even affected school in the past too, like cocaine, weed, pills and more.
People sometimes even overdose in the schools. It can be a problem for learning because people won't be in the right state of mind during classes and might even get kicked out of them if they are affected by a certain type of drug. Most students now will get suspended or if multiple times being caught or even expelled.
A lot of students now vape which became more popular in the present day. In the past it was all about weed or different types of drugs. People used to just be able to walk off campus and go to a nearby park and smoke or something but now the campus is closed off by a gate, and if a teacher suspects something from you, they will search your bag.
Once measure 110 passed overdoses in curry county rose greatly, said freeman. Resulting in them finding dead bodies all over the place or just people in really bad shape, measure 110 has caused police to not be able to do much about people in possession of drugs.
There have been instances and cases on how the enablement of drugs have murdered and destroyed people’s lives. This isn’t surprising to people who are currently aware of drugs and those who avoid them, but these lives are being taken away because some people don’t understand what it will do to someone.
When drugs are used by teens, they don’t dispose of it once they have used it. They leave things like needles, trash, and other types of physical drugs. This generally affects the environment and wildlife all around us.
Drug abuse and addictions can also be passed down through generations. To support this statement, in this “Genes and Addictions” site it states “Substance use disorder often runs in families. That’s because there is an inherited component, meaning it can pass from parent to child by way of genes.” Addiction to drugs causes people to leave their homes and families whether it would be on their own or having to go to addiction shelters. Addictions always need to be handled, considering the terrible causes it does on a significant person.
That’s why citizens that have these different individual types of addictions have to go through shelters, centers and therapeutic groups to get it taken care of quickly. Drugs also affect soon to be college students, even if you’re trying to get a job. It’s very important that you don’t take drugs so it doesn’t ruin your contribution to a healthy labor life.
Oregon has the second most highest untreated addiction rate in the country. In the “Curry Pilot” News article, statistics show that there are around “200 homeless people” in our county with absolutely no shelter. There will be gradually more homeless people if drugs will continue to be easily accessible throughout the county of Brookings Harbor.
“In 2022 the amount of highschool students using nicotine was 16.5%, while in 2023 it rose to 22.6%.” Freeman said. High School students get their hands on drugs easily because of how Oregon legalized it in November 2020, which was when the Measure 110 law was developed.
There have been people that even say they’ve seen high school students take drugs blatantly out of nowhere. It’s no doubt that the percentage will eventually grow in 2024 if this problem isn’t treated soon.
Measure 110 has caused a large amount of negative impact for our community, and helps increase the use of drugs. “Measure 110 has brought addicts from all over the country to Oregon,” said Freeman.
Brookings residents are familiar with looking on the side of the road and seeing a person with a bullwhip walking around town. Some residents in Brookings are disturbed by the sight of people doing such actions.
If people keep coming to Oregon to abuse their drugs, then the homeless population will keep growing in Oregon. It’s not the type of homeless people who just can’t afford or find a house, it’s the type of homeless people who are acting crazy, carrying whips, and even starting to steal from family members and stores.
With so many people abusing drugs, in the future this could really hurt our community, whether it's keeping tourists from visiting, or having residents leaving town. Drug use and abuse comes with all kinds of other crime, property crime, violent crime, and thefts. There are people who are stealing from their family members, their neighbors, and stores said Freeman
These addicts can’t be stopped until they've already done something because of measure 110. If drug abuse continues to be a problem, crime rates will keep going up in the future.
Curry County relies on tourism. If people are abusing drugs and doing execrable things, who is going to want to come and walk around town supporting local, restaurants, shops, etc.
Abusing drugs is a dangerous thing, and can impact so many people negatively. “These substances cause you to lose focus on anything that is important at all to a person, including the welfare of your own child,” said Freeman
With parents abusing drugs, children can be in harm's way, like smoking fentanyl or marijuana in a car a family is living in said freeman. In time these kids could end up being influenced by drugs and start using because their parents do it and don’t care.
If one feels drug abuse is out of hand in Oregon there are some things one can do to help. People who live in Curry County can encourage their family members or friends to seek help and solve their drug issues.
With youth being able to get a hold of drugs easier, teens are often pressured into trying drugs, which could lead to lifelong struggle with drug abuse. Solving this problem is not an easy task “I think the most important thing for you guys, is to just talk to your friends and spread awareness,” said Freeman.
If readers are suffering or know someone who's suffering, they can from drugs or knows someone who's suffering from drugs, there is a drug and alcohol rehab center in Grants Pass. The rehab center is called Dual Solutions Continuum Care, and can be contacted at (541) 472-9997.
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