An Oregon mother of seven found fentanyl pills in her front yard near her children’s toys, attributing it to drug trafficking taking place near her Portland home.
Evelyn MacPherson, mother of children ranging from 7 months to 17 years old, told Fox News on Dec. 13 that she has also found discarded needles in her yard, had her car stolen, and chased people off her property.
MacPherson was busy with her day when she noticed a canister near the chicken coop in her front yard. She took it, and its cap fell off, revealing fentanyl pills.
MacPherson suspects this finding was caused by the drug trafficking taking place in the two busy streets near her home. There is also a homeless camp nearby, to which she has also attributed part of her problems, she told the network.
“I’m pretty unhappy about it. It took me a while to process,” MacPherson said about finding the pills in her yard.
“I’m so angry right now […] We wanted to make sure that the public understood just how close to home the problem is,” she added.
Decriminalization of Hard Drugs
Oregon legalized the possession of small quantities of most hard drugs in November 2020. Law enforcement officers have said that such decriminalization has flooded Portland streets with drugs, reported KGW8. This has also led to an increase in crime, they say.
Multnomah County released a statement about the incident.
“Multnomah County’s policies do not incentivize illicit drug use. To the contrary, Multnomah County’s policies and programs incentivize drug users to get well,” the statement said.
MacPherson responded to the County’s message: “I think those are words.”
“I think that they say things like that. They don’t have anything in place to actually incentivize. I think it’s a way to just shut everybody up and tell us that they’re just doing what they’re supposed to do, but I think we would see results if that was the case.”
MacPherson is already packing her family’s belongings and getting ready to move out. She said she’s being forced to move from the neighborhood that she grew up in, away from her parents’ house, because she no longer feels safe there.
