It’s not the reputation that Portland wants, but heroin users say the Rose City is known for easy access and plentiful supplies of the deadly drug, which is now trapping a whole new generation of user.
“I never planned on being a heroin addict,” said Collin Wright, who’s now recovering and sober. He says his addiction started with prescription pills, after he was given Vicodin for a back injury when he was 18 years old.
As the amount of prescription opiates needed for his addiction became too expensive and difficult to find, he tried heroin at age 27.
“The friends who had it did not want to let me use it,” said Wright. “They knew what it did. I was sick enough at the time, in withdrawals from the pills, I was pretty forceful in getting it from them.”
Wright says once you try heroin, you can’t go back, and the high quickly turns to sickness.
“It gets painful enough,” said Wright. "If you’re not being medically taken care of and treated for withdrawals, you’ll get so desperate, you’ll do just about anything to get more, to get money, to get more.”
A recent survey of drug users by the Multnomah County Health Department has shown evidence of increased demand, as well as newer, younger users. The Department reports the number of syringes given out to prevent the spread of disease in Multnomah County increased by 42 percent.
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