An organizer for the fifth annual Portland Walk for Recovery asked the approximately 350 people gathered in Pioneer Courthouse Square on Saturday morning: “By a show of hands, how many of you have lost someone to addiction?”
More than half of the crowd lifted their arms high.
The rally and subsequent two-mile walk through downtown Portland, organized by the statewide coalition Oregon Recovers, was punctuated by personal stories of addiction and recovery as well as a demand to end the escalating addiction crisis facing the state.
Advocates were particularly focused on the impact of alcoholism in Oregon: In 2021, 2,153 residents died of causes attributed to alcohol, according to the Oregon Health Authority —more than twice the number of people killed by methamphetamines, heroin and fentanyl combined.
“I walk for more access to treatment, I walk for more detoxes, I walk for more recovery organizations,” said Jerrod Murray, executive director of Painted Horse Recovery Center. At the rally, Murray said his brother died of a heroin overdose last year and he’d lost another brother to an alcohol-related incident.
The Portland walk was one of several the coalition led statewide Saturday as it called on the governor and Oregon Legislature to end the escalating addiction crisis. The group has an emergency 12-step campaign that includes better coordination among agencies, increased funding, more peer mentors and immediate access to detox facilities.
Meandering through downtown, the crowd became a sea of teal blue T-shirts donated by the event’s many local sponsors. Several families brought children in strollers and dogs on leashes. A few held posters with obituaries for children, siblings and friends they’d lost to addiction. Among the pack, were people in active recovery – some for decades and some, like 38-year-old Heather Kautenberg, have been sober for a week.
Originally from Gladstone, the mother of three chanted loudly Saturday morning, donning a poster she fashioned into a crown. Kautenberg was recently separated from her children after she “lost everything” and was living on the streets. This month, she got help from Central City Concern, which placed her in temporary housing and connected her with counseling as she detoxes from methamphetamines.
Kautenberg said she feels like the walk makes a difference. “Hopefully this movement can keep getting bigger,” she said.
Earlier in the week, a team of researchers at Oregon Health & Sciences University presented a devastating analysis of the state’s addiction crisis and major gaps in the services desperately needed to help Oregonians.
The study’s main takeaways show grim deficits in the state, which ranks second in the nation for drug addiction rates, but 50th in access to treatment.
According to OHSU, Oregon should have 968 addiction prevention specialists based on the state’s population and addiction rate, but has only 62. The state also has less than half the residential treatment facilities and recovery residences it needs. Oregon has about 75 detox facilities, but needs 103, researchers wrote.
Todd Gleason, a mentor at 4D Recovery, a community center that specializes in peer support for young adults, has seen the dearth firsthand. Currently, 4D is one of 18 recovery community centers across the state. The OHSU analysis suggests a need for 127 more like it.
Exacerbating the problem, said Gleason, who is 49 years old and 10 years into his own recovery, is Portland’s homelessness crisis. Many people who come out of treatment are put on long wait lists for housing or placed in shelters where they’re reexposed to drugs, Gleason said while walking Saturday morning.
The recovery community is still reeling from the loss of the safety and support of Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings during COVID. A lot of people who were in recovery relapsed during that time, Gleason said.
“But this movement is growing,” Gleason said, noting the walk’s crowd was much larger this year than last. “It’s a way for all of us in the recovery community to all come together and show solidarity for each other.”
As the crowd passed the First Unitarian Church of Portland, a woman picked fresh roses from the church garden and handed them to participants with a smile. A man stood on the sidewalk near Portland State University, clapping as the crowd passed. He said, “Thank you for what y’all are doing. I’m an ex-convict, and it’s been 20 years since I sold dope.” And some drivers honked their horns in support as the group crossed West Burnside Street.
As they passed people using drugs or passed out on doorsteps in Old Town, Kelly Hernandez and Meggan McEvoy, founders of Oregon Moms for Addiction Recovery, were thankful their eldest children are currently safe.
Herandez’ 27-year-old son is incarcerated in Cowlitz County, and McEvoy’s 23-year-old daughter is in treatment for a fentanyl addiction. Their children were sick together on the streets of Portland.
“I see my son when I see someone on the sidewalk, I see my son when I see someone using in a McDonald’s bathroom,” Hernandez said. “That’s where my heart goes. There’s just so much untreated addiction around us.”
The mothers’ friendship started as a need for support amid the isolating nature of addiction stigma.
“Portland sucked my daughter in like a vortex. It got to a point where I felt like all the untreated addiction in this city was swallowing her up,” said McEvoy, who is a clinical social worker for Multnomah County Behavioral Health. “Our kids wanted and needed help, and we saw firsthand the barriers they faced to treatment and sober living.”
Their organization held its first event on Mother’s Day, when they carried signs and marched to Gov. Kate Brown’s home. They hope to keep the visibility and momentum of their advocacy going by talking to legislators and the gubernatorial candidates. With new funding coming from Measure 110, there’s a sense of hope, McEvoy said.
While the energy at Saturday’s walk was filled with excitement, healing and a refreshing sense of community, Oregon Recovers founder Mike Marshall is “guardedly optimistic” that state and local governments will bring solutions to the addiction crisis facing Oregonians.
Marshall was a lone voice in opposing Measure 110 in 2020, arguing publicly it was a misstep to decriminalize drugs before putting services in place. “The cart before the horse,” he’d said.
Marshall and other advocates are pushing for the upcoming $10 million in state funding and resources to go where those in recovery need it most.
“This is not about just dealing with substance use disorder,” Marshall said. “This is about taking all of Oregon and lifting it up. We are on the precipice of a great opportunity for change.”
– Savannah Eadens; seadens@oregonian.com; 503-221-6651; @savannaheadens
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