Portland “Super Meth” crisis focus of Sunday VICE News report

Published 12:05 pm Friday, May 19, 2023

Rampant fentanyl abuse is creating a public health and safety crisis in Portland, but so is methamphetamine — especially the new class of “Super Meth” produced in Mexico, also known as P2P.

That is the thrust of a documentary segment on VICE News that will be shown for the first time at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 21, on Showtime. It is titled “The Other Drug Crisis” and subscribers can stream it any time starting then.

The segment was shot between March 27 and April 5. It was reported by VICE News correspondent Paola Ramos, who is also a contributor for Telemundo News and MSNBC. It begins with a visit to a large meth lab in Mexico, where Ramos interviews an unnamed cartel chemist about the new cheaper and highly potent form of meth, before shifting to Portland. It is the largest city in the state with the highest percentage of meth addiction in the country, according to Showtime. The geographic location also makes it an easy access for the drug overflow from Mexico.

The Portland visit includes scenes of addicts using drugs and passed out in Old Town and in front of Washington Center, the shuttered downtown office building that has been recently been described as an open air fentanyl market. According to the report, addicts have also been using P2P at those and other locations, causing at least as many problems as the fentanyl — if not more because of side effects that include psychotic episodes and violent reactions to hallucinations.

The Portland segment includes interviews with addicts, recovering addicts, Portland Police Bureau officers, treatment providers, and OHSU addiction specialist Dr. Eleasa Sokolski, who says the new form meth permanently rewires the brain in ways that are not yet understood.

“We don’t know what it does to the brain,” Sokolski says.

Also interviewed is Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran, who is an emergency room doctors. She argues that meth needs to be taken as seriously as fentanyl, if not more.

“We are definitely at the heart attack stage of the methamphetamine crisis,” Meieran says.

Also interviewed is Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller, who oversees the Mental Health Court that determines whether criminal defendants are mentally capable of assisting in their defense. She said an increasing number of defendants have mental health problems she believes are causes by the new form of meth — and that treatment options for them are severely limited.

“Methamphetamine has create a tremendous impact,” Waller says.

The segment presents statistics that show meth was responsible for far more overdose deaths in the county than cocaine, fentanyl and heroin from 2019 through 2022. There were a record 158 fatal death in Portland in 2022. Overdose deaths are already up 46% in 2023 compared to the same time last year.

“The Other Drug Crisis” is the second segment of the half-hour Sunday and streaming program. VICE News has won numerous awards for its immerse coverage reporting from the frontlines of global conflicts, civil uprisings and more.