PORTLAND, Ore. — Open displays of drug abuse and mounting homelessness are woven into the fabric of Portland’s inner-city, insidious tentacles now reaching into areas long regarded as safe sanctuaries – the public libraries of Multnomah County.

The restrooms of public libraries, particularly the Central Library situated on a tree-lined avenue in downtown Portland, have become the place to administer drugs away from prying public eyes, even though the Portland Police Bureau says it undertakes regular drug enforcement missions around the Central Library.

Library workers complained and Multnomah County responded by asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to undertake a health hazard evaluation. That was in 2022, and in May last month the results were released in a repo

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