Preble Street—Hot Spot for Drugs
Police concern for public safety in the area surrounding Bayside’s underbelly has evidenced itself in a critical memorandum from Commander Vern Malloch to City Council’s Public Safety Committee. He states their "low-barrier philosophy . . . has inadvertently and unintentionally created a dangerous environment," that the policy has put everyone at risk, including the population served by the Resource Center. Specifically cited in the memorandum is "drug trafficking . . . in and around the day shelter and soup kitchen."
Many clients patronizing the center agree with the police assessment of the situation at Preble Street, giving credence to the idea that drugs are a pervasive problem.
One of them is Joe T., a man in his late thirties, who says that to those involved in the illegal drug market, the Preble Street Resource Center is known as the "Preble Street Pharmacy" and the Soup Kitchen is called "Preble Street Garden," comparing it to the Olive Garden restaurant. Joe is very familiar with both of these Portland scenes, since he has used them for several years. He says Preble Street is a "hot spot for drugs," that when people are calling one another on their cell phones to set up drug transactions they’ll make arrangements to meet at either the "Pharmacy" or the "Garden." "Preble Street is the drug market of Portland," he concluded.
His feelings regarding workers are: "They are enabling. Staff don’t care."
Dorothy F., in her mid-thirties, has spent a lot of time in the day shelter. She claims that there are certain areas of the room where specific drugs are sold and that this is common knowledge for people availing themselves of the services Preble Street offers.
Suboxone has become the drug of choice lately in this arena, a drug approved for use in opiate addiction therapy. It is prescribed by physicians and is susceptible to abuse, becoming a problem in Portland because of its popularity among the drug-using population. It can be ingested, ground up and snorted, or used with a "rig" for shooting up. Some teenagers crush the pills into powder, and have then become infected from dirty needles, and contracted Hepatitis C after shooting up.
Patrick G. has only frequented Preble Street for drugs, not for services. He is an eighteen-year-old who lives with his mother and has recently begun treatment for his addiction to Suboxone.
"I was on Suboxone for three years, between ages fourteen and seventeen. When I started, it was $4 a pill. Last year it was $10, and now it’s between $15 and $20. It’s like an epidemic. If you’d go down to Preble Street now there will be more people looking for Suboxone than eating in the soup kitchen."
Patrick said "In the morning the first place junkies go is the soup kitchen to look for drugs. That’s the hot spot."
He says that when he was looking for pills in the courtyard only once in a great while would someone working for Preble Street hassle him. "Sellers would say, ‘Hey, come around back.’ More often than not, I’d be approached by someone wanting to sell me an illegal drug."
Patrick understands that the staff is overworked, but said "They need to control the people that are in there. They’re not doing a good job. It’s almost as though the workers there don’t care. I’ve bought stuff right in front of them. They know what’s going on. I think they’ve just seen so much."
He feels that staff and patrols should be increased. "I’d walk around and ask for what I wanted. If I had drugs to sell, I’d be discreet but I made sales right in front of staff."
There are those who sell their pills after getting them. Many times people will file false claims to police saying their prescriptions have been stolen. If they have a police report they are able to get another prescription. The police are on to this ruse and don’t provide reports merely because one is requested.
In December 2010 the City of Portland’s Family Shelter stated that there had been multiple reports of families selling, stealing, and abusing Suboxone at the shelter. Evictions of several families resulted.
Another area of concern is the liberality of physicians prescribing the drug and doing so without requiring a counseling component. Some doctors prescribe 90 days’ worth of Suboxone in this manner.
Police working in peninsula neighborhoods are very familiar with this drug.
Officer Bob Pelletier says "Suboxone seems to be the drug of choice. Of the people I deal with, everyone is on Suboxone."
Several incidents involving Preble Street and Suboxone have occurred within the past couple of months.
Officer Dan Rose was parked in a lot on Portland Street when he noticed a male he knew to be a small-time drug dealer exit the center. Then he saw a hand-to-hand transaction with a juvenile just outside the courtyard. The juvenile was stopped and admitted he’d just purchased Suboxone from the man.
Officer Daniel L. Knight, the Senior Lead Officer for the Midtown and Old Port sections of the city, works out of an office on Portland Street, less than a block from Preble Street. He has made recent arrests there involving Suboxone. One was a man arrested on outstanding warrants who had Suboxone in his possession when apprehended and the other involved a man and woman who had wheeled a 16-month-old baby down to the center from Allen Avenue and were arrested when they were either trying to buy or sell drugs. Both people had Suboxone on them, but had no prescription for the drug.
According to police, users don’t see it as a street drug like heroin or crack cocaine; they feel there’s no stigma attached to it because it’s "medication."
Jon Bradley is the Assistant Director of Preble Street. When told that many people have the perception that Preble Street doesn’t do anything about illicit drug dealing on their premises, he stated "It is a MISperception!"
"All workers are trained to look for and address issues related to drugs." Bradley said "Police are always allowed in." He says police are asked to be available on the days people receive their checks and police are paid to be at the soup kitchen location at dinnertime because they’re trying to make that a safer time for people.
"We can’t be responsible for everyone in the center and out on the street. These are complicated issues and we all have to work on them together. We take all concerns seriously."
Bradley said that people are told they cannot exchange money and if money or pills are seen that is an infraction of the rules. He says there are challenges to being able to see tiny substances such as crack cocaine or Suboxone pills being passed from one person to another.
"We’ve done a lot of work with the police over the years." A policy whereby people’s services are suspended has been developed with the Police Department, and formal notice is given to people for specific periods of time, with conditions of the suspension spelled out on the paperwork. This is the step before a criminal trespass order is given to someone, the timeline of which is a one-year period. "One hundred and sixty-three people have been banned for some period of time this past year, mostly for drugs," said Bradley.
He stated that Preble Street has its drug policy posted inside and outside in both English and Spanish. Restrictions are specified for infractions of rules pertaining to illegal drug use and dealing on-site. However, based on many of their clients’ assessments, the reality doesn’t seem to match that policy.
There may also be a lack of clarity for the drug policy because drug possession isn’t mentioned at all. The infractions listed for enforcement pertaining to illegal drugs are: use or suspected use; involvement or suspicion of exchange or solicitation; talking about drugs or drug use. Nowhere does it mention that bringing drugs onto the premises is not allowed. Police think this should be added to the stated policy. They also feel that installation of video cameras would help curtail illegal activity.
This reporter took a slow walk through the center’s day shelter and did find these drug policies posted, but was questioned by a client when looking for the notices. He scoffed when told the purpose of the search.
He identified himself as Cody J., and said "Why bother? It’s a waste of paper! I sit here and see things all the time. If you don’t get caught, you’re doing good."
Cody’s advice was "If you ever want drugs, come to Preble Street."
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