Oregonian – Nov. 17, 2023
Millions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours over the last four years have gone into trying to reopen a bigger and better sobering center as the need has grown more urgent.
More than 80 groups involving nearly 200 people from varied backgrounds came to the table – healthcare executives, addiction service providers, police and the people who have needed the help.
The stakes were as high as they were vital: Portland’s decades-old Sobering Station and transport vans, the only drop-off program of its kind in a city of 635,000 roiled by an epidemic of drug overdoses, had abruptly shut down in late 2019.