Operation Fentanyl: An inside look at PPB’s battle with a ‘dangerous’ drug dealing hotspot

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Ethan Brown is not an addict but he is feeling the effects of addiction. He lost a friend to a deadly opiate overdose a couple weeks ago. The rampant drug activity in downtown Portland triggers his grief, further disrupting his recent visit to the Portland Art Museum with his toddler, Nova.

“I actually literally had to walk into traffic and stop the cars so that I didn’t have to walk through people consuming,” Brown told KOIN 6 News. “I think this is more than a citywide problem. This is an American issue. This is a worldwide problem.”

Other neighbors who live near the Safeway at SW 10th and Jefferson, a current hotspot in Portland for open drug use and drug dealing, said it’s affecting daily life, like trips to the grocery store, the daycare, and church.

Brown believes this problem needs urgent attention.

“As someone that has peers who are opiate addicts, friends, acquaintances, along with other street drugs, I think that it has to be a two-pronged approach,” he said. “We have to have compassion, we have to provide healthcare, but also the open use of drugs and garbage on the street is a problem for a lot of people.”

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Jann Austin lives in the neighborhood downtown and told KOIN 6 News her walk to the Safeway is, charitably, an adventure.

“A lot of disoriented people, a lot of people actually using drugs there on the sidewalk as you walk by,” Austin said. “The changing of hands and you know that money is being passed and that drugs are being passed and you just walk by because it’s one of those things that’s a very fine line.”

Residents in Portland struggle to cope with one of the world’s most addictive drugs.

Maria, who did not want to appear on camera, said it’s hard for her to get to the Safeway — even though she lives across the street.

“When I first came here, this was such a perfect place. I know they’re drug addicts. They stand out here and do their fentanyl, and I feel for them. But it becomes swarms, literally,” Maria said. “I have become very, very cautious about going right across the street to shop because it depends on who’s out here. It’s just become a junkyard. It’s becoming dangerous.”

On February 7, a woman filed a police report, saying she was hit in an unprovoked attack as she left her downtown apartment around 9:30 p.m.

The day after that, Christopher Casey was arrested for fentanyl possession and a bias crime in a different incident. Investigators said he used racial slurs and assaulted a Safeway security guard.

The following day, officers had an emergency order to clear a sidewalk camp on SW Jefferson after a student reported someone tried to stab them with a needle.

“I don’t know what the city can do,” Maria said, “but these people are clearly suffering and they’re addicts — that’s a hard thing to fix. So I don’t know what the solutions are, but all I can say is it’s very untenable to live here.”

‘It’s traumatizing’

This current drug hotspot is just outside the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe service district. It’s an area that has less interaction with regular cleaning crews — but it also has access to a grocery store.

There are likely other reasons as well. When the root of the issues goes unaddressed, the problem will merely migrate.

Wanting a sense of safety when going to the store is a shared thought.

“I think they deserve to be safe and they deserve to have food,” Austin said of the homeless in active addiction. “I also feel like the people who live in this area who walk by are equally entitled to be safe and have access to food.”

Tiana Green, who said she’s been homeless for a couple of years, cleaned up foil, drug paraphernalia and garbage around a disjointed campsite near Safeway. She said fentanyl overdoses — including fatal ODs — are routine.

“It’s traumatizing. It can be traumatizing,” Green said. “A lot of people don’t know what to do, you know? Some people would walk away and not do anything, ’cause they’re scared they’re gonna get in trouble.”

‘A multibillion-dollar international industry’

Portland police said they were regularly snatching pounds of fentanyl at a time from dealers last summer. But after many big busts, dealers are less brazen now and acting more cautious.

“It’s just a new challenge for us and challenges that we have to adapt to and we’ll continue to adapt to,” said PPB Sgt. Jerry Cioeta, who leads the PPB Bike Squad. “We don’t see the drug dealers during the day anymore, so we have to change our tactics to night.”

The PPB Bike Squad is now known for working on the front lines of the fentanyl trade in the city.

“Drugs,” Cioeta said, “are a multibillion dollar international industry.”

He and members of the Bike Squad began conducting overnight missions — including one on February 10, near the Safeway at SW 10th and Jefferson.

With KOIN 6 News watching, officers kept an eye on the drug scene and carefully distinguished between users and dealers. It’s a process that can take hours to make sure there is sufficient evidence to hold those arrested accountable in a court of law.

On this night, 3 people were arrested for the distribution of a controlled substance and booked into Multnomah County Jail. The bike squad seized a total of 115 grams of fentanyl and 13 grams of crystal meth.

Fentanyl used to be sold in pills. But it’s now sold in powder form. Users want to exclusively smoke it, so the traffickers don’t even bother to press it anymore.

One of those arrested claimed he made more than $500 in 15 minutes. Officers said they also found more than a half-dozen welfare benefit cards in the possession of another suspect.

Drug trafficking of fentanyl operates globally and saturates American cities. The people caught dealing in Portland often tell police they’re from Honduras. Some say they sell drugs to free their relatives being held hostage by the cartels.

Sgt. Cioeta said the limited number of officers in Portland combating street dealers barely makes a dent when considering the magnitude of the problem on an international scale.

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On the federal level, the US has not yet agreed on what is the next step in combating this drug crisis.

Regardless, Cioeta said his team is dedicated to deterring drug dealers in Portland.

“I’ve lived here literally all my life and it’s discouraging to hear people say, ‘Oh, Portland is not what it used to be,'” he told KOIN 6 News. “There are a lot of people who are trying to get people to stop saying that.”

Portland resident Ethan Brown shares that same desire. He hopes his daughter can one day walk down the street without facing fentanyl.

“This is our life. This is real. We live in the city and I love this city and I love Oregon. I grew up here in Oregon, so I don’t want to leave,” Brown said. “I just want these people to get help. And I also want to be able to walk down the street.”

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