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Opioid Problem Causes Problems For Shelter Sites

Brian Bull
/
KLCC

Hard drugs are driving up the numbers of homeless, says a non-profit group that helps the poor and unhoused. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, a shelter that isn’t normally at capacity until winter is already packed.

St. Vincent de Paul runs several programs and services across the Eugene-Springfield area.  One of them is its Dusk-to-Dawn tent camp on Highway 99.

Terry McDonald is the organization’s Executive Director.  He says of its 200 spaces, 190 are already taken…months ahead of schedule. McDonald says a big factor is opioids.

Credit Dimitris Kalogeropoylos / Flickr/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
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Flickr/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
Heroin and needle.

“Some really bad heroin that’s laced with fentanyl," McDonald tells KLCC.  "The cost of heroin has dropped down to where it’s almost cheaper than marijuana.  And when they get to the point where they’re cheaper than the recreational type of drug, the marijuanas of the world, it’s not a good thing for the community, it’s an unhealthy trend.”

McDonald says St. Vincent’s is working to get people into affordable housing as soon as possible, to avoid crowding.

Opioid addiction is recognized as a national epidemic.

Copyright 2019, KLCC.

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
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