Portland Mayor Abandons Plan to Ban Public Drug Use

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has abandoned his plan to ban public drug use just five days after announcing it, citing the passage of a bill by the Oregon Legislature that makes possession of fentanyl a criminal misdemeanor. Critics had warned that the proposed ban would likely violate state law, and Wheeler acknowledged that it would have likely been challenged in court. The bill aims to close a loophole in a 2020 ballot initiative that decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs, as deadly overdoses involving fentanyl rose in downtown Portland.