A weekend topic starting with Oregon Public Radio. "Just before Portland’s City Council approved a ban on public drug use last week, Mayor Ted Wheeler described what he’d observed on his way to work that afternoon: 'The last time I saw somebody consuming what I believe to be fentanyl publicly on our streets was less than five minutes ago, three blocks from City Hall,' the Democrat said. Oregon voters in 2020 passed Measure 110, a first-in-the-nation law decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of controlled substances such as heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine and fentanyl. Three years later, public drug use has wearied even the most tolerant of Oregonians."

"A state audit found that the law’s rollout was beset by bureaucratic fumbles and a short implementation timeline. More critically, it coincided with a national fentanyl crisis that overwhelmed the country — not just Oregon — with a cheap, addictive and deadly drug. The measure also took effect during a long-standing homelessness crisis in Oregon and other West Coast states that made public drug use more visible — and discomfiting — in neighborhoods where people live on the streets. It’s particularly problematic in Portland, Oregon’s biggest city, where high rates of commercial property vacancies have hollowed out some downtown sectors."

KPTV in Oregon. "Residents in a Portland-area neighborhood say their pets nearly died after coming into contact with fentanyl while they were out on a walk. Emily Englebright told KPTV that she was taking her two chihuahua puppies on a quick walk last week in southwest Portland when one of her pets stopped to sniff at something on the sidewalk. The emergency veterinarians administered Narcan, and Fivel started to perk up. 'She [the veterinarian] thought most likely it was fentanyl that caused it, and she actually already had three fentanyl cases that night,' Englebright said."

The Harvard Crimson. "Overdoses are an increasingly common phenomenon in Boston and across the United States as addictive drugs, particularly synthetic ones like fentanyl, have become more powerful and more dangerous over the last decade, leading to a dramatic rise in overdose deaths. David E. Velasquez, a fourth-year medical student said he also witnessed an overdose recovery after encountering a patient — whose brother had administered naloxone in time — during a shift at Massachusetts General Hospital. 'He ended up leaving the hospital,' Velasquez said. 'And while I was still on that same day, we get a call that he had overdosed again, now at a T station.' 'But this time, there was no naloxone there. His brother was not there,' he added. With nothing and no one around to reverse the overdose, the patient died, Velasquez said."

The Tennessean. "Seven hundred and fifty four people died by drug overdose in the Nashville area last year, a number that makes Davidson County the second-deadliest major metro in the country. Fentanyl was linked to over 77% of those cases. Overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2017, according to data kept by the Metro Public Health Department. The Nashville Prevention Partnership provides training on how to properly administer Narcan and care for someone who is overdosing. There are also several syringe services programs across Tennessee that provide free, sterile needles and syringes; safe disposal containers; testing; and overdose prevention resources."

The Standout. "You can now buy illicit fentanyl on Washington’s streets for as little as 50 cents a pill. That’s according to police and local advocates working with people who use drugs. They say fentanyl is selling for anywhere from 50 cents to $5 a pill, depending on location and dealer-user relationships. In Seattle, the price of the dangerous opioid is as low as 40 cents a pill in wholesale bulk purchases, said Detective Judinna J. Gulpan, a spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department. However, the street price is usually around $3 to $5, Gulpan said. Dealers will even offer tens of thousands of pills to local distributors without being paid, allowing payment after the pills are sold, said Sergeant Al Schultz, a Tacoma Police Department special investigations unit officer. 'We have sources trying to give us 20,000 pills when we only want to actually buy 1,000,' said Schultz, who works undercover."

ABC 15 in Arizona. "District 4 Representative, Matt Gress, represents much of the City of Scottsdale. He called Wednesday’s hearing so the community could share their thoughts and ask questions to local leaders after the City of Scottsdale agreed to convert hotel rooms into a temporary shelter. The City of Scottsdale got a $1 million grant from the state to help with homeless programs. Representative Gress has been vocal about his opposition to the hotel program."

"'I will not allow the disastrous policies of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and even Phoenix seep its way into our community homelessness,' Gress said. He continues, 'Homelessness is a humanitarian crisis, but it's also a public safety crisis. Today's hearing seeks to address the tragic reality of homelessness.'"

Fox News on Texas. "A series of videos posted on Monday shows the extent of damage Austin’s West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt has endured from a homeless encampment. The videos, from Austin activist Jamie Hammonds, show the encampment covered in trash 'as far as the eye can see,' including liquor bottles, needles, Narcan, and other junk. 'It’s just been destroyed. It’s going to be interesting to see if the city can actually clean this,' Hammond says in the video, arguing that the damage was 'as bad if not worse' than Violet Crown, another greenbelt damaged by a homeless encampment earlier this year."

"Hammonds told Fox News Digital, 'you can smell the encampment even before you enter the greenbelt.' 'It is so much worse than the Violet Crown Trail,' Hammonds said. 'If you look in the Austin guidebooks they talk about [West Bouldin Creek]. It’s one of their pride and joys, so to speak. And this place is never going to be the same.'"

Colorado Public Radio. "About $26,000 worth of steel barricades now encircle the primary gathering place for Grand Junction’s unhoused residents. The city of Grand Junction this week closed off Whitman Park, a 2.75-acre green space whose neighbors include an auto repair shop, the Grand Junction Police Department and a pawn shop that was raided by local law enforcement for multiple felony counts of selling stolen goods. 'I've really come to believe that unhoused are going to be present in the park facilities and that's okay and that's fine. They have a right to be there just like everyone else has a right to be there,' said Grand Junction Parks and Recreation Director Ken Sherbenou. 'But when they're outnumbering the general public, then it becomes a feeling that people are less likely to go use that playground or less likely to go use that field. And so a lot of our philosophy is really trying to activate these spaces so that it can be shared-use by everyone.'"

The Washington Post. "For more than a year, New York has grappled with an influx of migrants traveling to the city in search of safety and opportunity. More than 110,000 migrants have arrived since the spring of 2022, the city says. About 60,000 are housed in shelters. Long a gateway for immigrants, New York has largely welcomed the new arrivals, many of whom are seeking asylum in the United States. But the continuing flow of migrants and the rising costs of sheltering them has become a thorny challenge for Mayor Eric Adams (D). The migrants had been processed at the border and released pending the pursuit of their asylum claims. Many came from Venezuela, a country wracked by political and economic turmoil, and all had endured dangerous journeys north through Mexico. The newer arrivals include people from Venezuela and Ecuador but also West Africa and Russian-speaking countries, Adams said this month."

"Meanwhile, aid groups and immigrant advocates reacted strongly to Adams’s recent comment that migrant arrivals could 'destroy' the city. Such remarks are 'reckless and unproductive fear-mongering,' said the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless in a joint statement. 'This dangerous rhetoric is something you’d expect from fringe politicians on the far right of the political spectrum.'"

From CTV News in Canada. "Three B.C. mayors say a ban on illicit drugs in some spaces is a move in the right direction, but should be further expanded. On Thursday, Premier David Eby announced the province is banning possession of illicit drugs within 15 metres of playground play structures, spray pools, wading pools and skate parks. The new rules come into effect Sept. 18. Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West believes the move comes up short and defies logic. 'The same rationale that says you shouldn't be smoking crack or using fentanyl in a children’s playground should apply to sports fields where children are playing soccer and baseball,' West said. 'When the province rolled out decriminalization, these are the types of things that they should have thought about at the beginning.'"

"Drug advocates said they are disappointed in the way these changes have been communicated. Brittany Graham with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users told CTV News that drug users have always had a 'code of ethics' when it comes to drugs around children. 'If a child walks by a group of folks on East Hastings, you’ll hear 'baby on the block' or 'child on the block,' and that reiterates to people to put your stuff away,' Graham said. 'To assume that people using drugs are looking to go into areas that children are in is a new version of 'Just Say No' or the War on Drugs stigma.'"

The National Post in Canada. "One of Toronto’s most prominent businessmen has issued an open letter decrying the city’s decline into violence and disorder — and calling out civic leaders for letting it happen. Thomas Caldwell, chairman of Caldwell Investment Management Ltd., bought a full-page ad in the National Post headlined 'Cry for Toronto.' Caldwell gave an account of the past two weeks. He says he was verbally and physically assaulted in the streets. 'I assume for the arrogance of wearing a suit and tie,' he writes. There were also what he calls 'shouter' incidents on the subway. 'I love the vacant TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) announcement ‘If you see something, say something.’ To whom? The woman sitting next to me?'"

"He called his advertisement an open letter to new Mayor Olivia Chow and other civic leaders, and also decried the state of transit and the friction between cyclists, pedestrians and traffic. 'They probably think they’re doing a great job. And somebody’s got to say, ‘No, no, you’re not connected with what people really need in any functioning city,' said Caldwell in an interview Monday. In addition to the problems on transit and safety on the sidewalks, Caldwell also writes in his letter that there’s a 'war on cars' and that he’s experienced 'three near misses' with people on scooters and bicycles."

"'No laws protect us walkers, as our local politicians will do anything not to offend cyclists,' he writes. Driving is also not an option with numerous short tempered confrontations resulting from Toronto’s war on cars and the city’s constant, uncoordinated construction. Driving is a nightmare,' he writes. 'Mind you, that’s the only time you see a police officer in the street — directing traffic.' 'My job is to articulate the problem, get people thinking about it, and have people starting to discuss it and have our politicians realize that maybe, just maybe, they’re going down the wrong road,' Caldwell said. 'I’m just saying, asking, almost pleading with city council to smarten up. Realize what your job is. Your job is to serve the citizen, not to impose your view of the world, which is not one that many of us share.'"

The Associated Press. "California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday the state will intervene in an ongoing federal court case that’s barred San Francisco from cleaning up homeless encampments until more shelter beds are available, saying the judge has gone too far and is preventing the state from solving a critical problem. 'I hope this goes to the Supreme Court,' Newsom said. 'And that’s a hell of a statement coming from a progressive Democrat.'"

The Fresno Bee in California. "A Fresno City Council member whose district includes the city’s downtown core accused the Fresno County Board of Supervisors of becoming 'an accessory to drug dealers' after a decision last week to allow a once-a-week needle-exchange program to operate in county-owned space in downtown Fresno. Councilmember Miguel Arias was joined at a press conference Monday morning by council colleague Garry Bredefeld and Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer to denounce the county board’s Sept. 5 vote to approve a zero-dollar lease for the San Joaquin Valley Free Medical Clinic and Needle Exchange to use space inside the county’s Department of Public Health from noon to 4 p.m. each Saturday. 'To say that I’m frustrated is not accurate,' Arias said. I’m actually pretty pissed off and angry' about the board’s 3-2 vote."

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. "If there was trouble at the Dreamforce convention this week, it was mostly just the good kind. As in crowds so big that it was hard to get into some events, and traffic that slowed to a crawl around the confab’s nexus of Fourth and Howard Streets in San Francisco. What there wasn’t, according to many convention-goers, was mess on the streets to stumble over. Or panhandlers. Or tent camps dotting the sidewalks. Or open-air drug dealing and use. But mild grumbling could be heard several blocks away, where a few homeless folks said they were shooed off in the morning and told to stay away while Dreamforce ruled its part of downtown."

"'The police, security guards, those street ambassadors — everyone told me ‘get out of here’ this morning when I woke up around 8 a.m.,' 66-year-old Jan Weith said as he lounged in a doorway on Powell Street. 'I walked off to look at the crowds and when I came back someone had stolen my suitcase and blankets,' he said. 'And those rich techies? They think they’re all that. They act like they didn’t have enough money to give me $5 or a cup of coffee. They looked right through me. Can’t wait ’til this thing is over and we can get back to normal.'"

Santa Monica Daily Press in California. "Cities in the West can’t legally clear homeless camps unless they can provide adequate alternative shelter to the camp residents. But what, precisely, constitutes 'adequate shelter?' Is it one cot among dozens in a congregate shelter? A top bunk for an elderly person? An individual tiny home? A strip of asphalt, without electricity or water, where rows of people can set up their tents? The definition is at the heart of debates raging across California in the five years since a federal appeals court ruled that it’s cruel and unusual punishment to evict homeless people from public spaces when they have no other options."

"The 2018 decision on that Boise, Idaho case by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, binding on states in the West, did not require cities to set up enough shelter beds for their entire homeless population, but said it would be unconstitutional to criminally penalize people camping in public when they lack 'access to adequate temporary shelter.' Last week a three-judge panel of that same court took another crack at the issue — this time declining to lift a temporary order that has, for nine months, halted San Francisco officials from sweeping the city’s homeless camps."

"Many local governments say they can ban homeless camps and that they have the alternative shelter options to enforce it. Calling it a necessary form of tough love, they’re cracking down on homeless camps, pairing an offer of shelter — or a stern prodding toward it — with the threat of arrest or fine. San Diego in late July began enforcing a ban on homeless camps in most public places during the day; other cities that have recently passed camping restrictions include Sacramento, San Rafael and Culver City."

"It’s a new option in a city that has historically offered only large congregate shelters, which many refuse or find unsuitable. Mayor Todd Gloria said it comes with the 'expectation' that more people will choose it over living on the streets when beds are available. 'We have put out a tremendous amount of carrots and we do need a few sticks,' he said. 'It is the expectations of taxpayers funding these efforts that folks avail themselves of it.'"

"Mirroring other California politicians on the matter, Gloria criticized activists who call the shelter offerings inadequate as an 'infinitesimally small number of voices who seemingly enjoy seeing encampments on the streets.' 'It’s never enough for them,' he said."

"Under the din of the Highway 99 overpass along the edge of Sacramento’s urban core, a man emerged from his tent on a recent weekend morning and sat at a makeshift breakfast table, shaking a box of cereal. The man, who would only identify himself as 53-year-old Eric D., said he’d lived at this encampment of about five tents for about a month. 'Better for who?' he said, when asked whether he would consider a shelter placement better than the encampment. 'It depends on the individual.' His neighbor, Joel Martinez, bagged up trash on the sidewalk before sitting down to light a cigarette. He said he understands why cities are moving to ban encampments, and said not all residents keep their homeless camps clean, though some, he said, 'police ourselves.' 'I know people don’t like to be reminded of the homelessness,' he said. 'But it’s here, and it seems like the COVID thing really brought it all out.'"