Washington County launches drug rehabilitation program on September 1

HILLSBORO, Ore. – Multnomah County announced Monday that it will delay the opening of its diversion center – a key part of its plan to get people into treatment when simple drug possession becomes a crime again in Oregon on Sept. 1. In the meantime, the county will offer diversion efforts “through mobile assistance.”

In neighboring Washington County, however, that has always been the plan. Everything seems to be on track to start by the September 1 deadline, also because their plan differs from that of Multnomah County in several important points.

“So maybe the starting point is that we as a county have been meeting since before the governor signed the new law, and I just want to emphasize that we have really been looking at this in a significant way,” Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton said in a recent interview with KGW. “I can't tell you how many hours I've spent on this – I've spent hundreds of hours on this because it's an important issue that we want to get right. It's also something completely new for Oregon.”

“Diversion,” as described in the new state law, is not synonymous with a diversion program. Regardless, Barton said Washington County’s program will seem familiar to people who have heard of diversion in the court system.

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“I think people are generally familiar with the diversion program, like DUI diversion, where we try to get someone out of the normal process and instead divert them into treatment. We give them a reward, which is that if they successfully complete that, the case will be dismissed or the charges will be reduced,” Barton said. “Diversion is essentially the same idea, only it happens much earlier in the process – so before the trial begins, maybe even before the officer takes someone down the street to jail. The officer would offer someone the opportunity to divert or divert their case outside of the normal process.”

The key difference is that diversion programs give drug users a chance to avoid the court process and get help. Barton said Washington County is using an approach that has worked in other Oregon counties, as well as techniques that have been successful in Washington County before.

“We use things like specialty courts and treatment courts or there's a program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion that originally came out of Seattle and that Salem, Marion County has implemented successfully,” Barton said. “So we've taken parts of other programs that we know are evidence-based and have a high probability of success and we've brought them all into our Washington County diversion program. And starting September 1, it's all going to start.”

Barton explained the program using a hypothetical situation: A Beaverton police officer spots someone using fentanyl outside the Beaverton Public Library – which Barton said is a “relatively common occurrence.” If the officer develops reasonable suspicion that that person is using and carrying fentanyl, it would fall under the new possession of a controlled substance laws.

The officer could then issue a misdemeanor citation, which is the new default rule under Measure 110. That would order the person to appear in court to answer for the crime. But officers also have the option to dismiss the citation, which is county-specific.

In the Beaverton scenario, Barton said, the officer might then call what's called a peer navigator or peer support specialist who works for a community-based treatment organization like LifeWorks NW.

“Again, it has to be someone with first-hand experience,” Barton explained. “They've been in this scenario before, they know what it's like, and they can get to the scene. Hopefully, in the next 5-10, maybe 15 minutes, the person actually arrives, and the officer is with the person and can do what we call a warm handoff.”

“He can say to that person, 'Look, you've been charged with this crime. But I want you to talk to Sally. Sally has been in your situation. She can talk to you about some of your options, and we want to get you into treatment.' And Sally would then go from there.

“And the goal is for Sally to convince that person, 'Hey, let's get you into this diversion program where, if you successfully engage in treatment – and in Washington County we require everyone to successfully and meaningfully engage in treatment – you can avoid criminal charges. You can avoid the prospect of jail time or a criminal record or anything like that and move on with your life. And while we're at it, we can also address any other issues you may be struggling with.'

“Maybe there's housing shortages, food shortages … if we can connect them to other social services, you know, things that might help them. But the goal is to put them in a better position to meet people where they are, but not leave them there and help them move forward.”

The diversion program lasts six months and Barton said people can only choose this route once per year – further violations within a year will be dealt with through the court system.

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Washington County is not implementing the system with a single drop-off center, but is working to set up two different locations that will be available in the near future.

“There will be a central point, a hub that we rely on, and it's called the Center for Addictions Triage and Treatment, or CATT,” Barton said. “This idea was conceived in 2019, before we had a fentanyl crisis and before voters even passed Ballot Proposition 110. And that's already underway, and we just broke ground on it a month or two ago. So the timing for that is next year.

“We're hoping that the new building at this new center will be ready and that it will be a 24-hour detox and treatment center that will provide all kinds of resources for people involved in diversion. Day one of our diversion program – the building isn't ready yet… but there will be a center and that will be a big focus for us, to focus our resources on people and give them a place to go.”