Idon’t know how one can describe the Multnomah County drug deflection center’s first year operating results as anything other than an absolute failure and a colossal waste of money, (“ With annual data in, pressure is on Multnomah County to increase use of expensive new deflection center, ” Nov. 25).

If I understand the data correctly, only about two people per day were taken to the center. There were 606 drop offs, representing 520 people, since some were repeat visitors. Only about 113 completed the deflection process, which included a self-assessment and contacting at least one of a wide variety of local resources within 30 days. That was done by one person for every three days the center operated. Most of the people taken there were allowed to simply ignore staff efforts. The ce

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