“Portugal helps drug users get high safely. Is Oregon ready for that?” Assignment for The Oregonian, 2023

A lawyer, working for Lisbon's Dissuasion Comission, poses for a portrait at her office in Praça de Espanha, Lisbon, Portugal. 27th of October 2023

Case files of Lisbon's Dissuasion Comission are stored in their office in Praça de Espanha, Lisbon, Portugal. 27th of October 2023

Sen. Floyd Prozanski (right), Rep. Rob Nosse (center), and Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber (left) in a meeting with João Goulão, Portugal's Drug Czar, in charge of SICAD, a branch of the Health Ministry in charge of the country's drug decriminalization policies, during a fact-finding trip to Portugal. 30th October 2023

João Goulão, Director of of SICAD, a branch of the Health Ministry in charge of the country's drug decriminalization policies, poses for a portrait in Lisbon. 30th October 2023

The delegation from Oregon visits Taipas Center in Lisbon, the first of its kind in Portugal. 30th of October 2023

For many in Lisbon, methadone arrives by van. About 1,300 people are served daily by one nonprofit’s mobile methadone program.October, 27, 2023

A nurse dispenses methadone from a van near the center of Lisbon. Here, the process for obtaining methadone is simple: People who want the medication undergo a urinalysis to confirm the presence of opioids in their system and they’re given the drug on the spot. Methadone is free. October, 27, 2023

A delegation of about two dozen Oregonians, including lawmakers, treatment providers, police and policy advisers, visited a mobile methadone treatment program in Avenida de Ceuta, Lisbon. October, 27, 2023

nês Marinho, a nurse with a Lisbon-based nonprofit that provides street outreach, navigated Lisbon’s rush hour one recent fall afternoon. October 27, 2023

Inês Marinho, left, a nurse, and Carla Perales, a psychologist, chat with Marco, who says he has struggled for decades with heroin addiction. More recently, he has turned to crack cocaine as well. Marinho and Perales try to head to the streets by 2 p.m. each day and travel a familiar route. “They know we will appear,” Marinho said. “People expect us.” October, 27, 2023

Inês Marinho, a nurse and outreach worker, heads to the team's car in the Bela Vista district, during the outreach team's daily route through Lisbon. 27th of October 2023

An overview of Portugal's capital, Lisbon. 30th October 2023

Extremely proud to have worked on this series about Drug Decriminalization in Portugal and Oregon's experience with the policy for The Oregonian with talented journalist Noelle Crombie.

"This fall, a delegation of about two dozen Oregonians, including lawmakers, treatment providers, police and policy advisers, visited supervised consumption sites as part of their first-hand look at how decriminalization works in Portugal and what ideas, if any, they could export to Oregon.

The trip came at a pivotal time. Public support for Oregon’s landmark and controversial drug decriminalization law known as Measure 110 has waned amid seemingly intractable crises: fentanyl addiction and escalating drug overdose deaths, chronic homelessness and a lack of adequate support for people living on the streets with severe mental illness." writes journalist Noelle Crombie.

This two part series is available here and here .