How Meth and Mental Illness Are Affecting the City’s Homeless Population

A Street Roots article called "Psychotic city: Combination of meth plus mental illness plays out on Portland streets" looks at the difficult interaction.

A homeless camp in Old Town. (Laurel Kadas)
By Rachel Monahan

Is it drugs or mental illness that makes people on the street seem so visibly insane?

In a Dec. 14 story, the homeless newspaper Streets Roots took the question head-on, examining the root cause for the psychotic symptoms that passersby witness on the streets.

As reporter Emily Green writes, "what exactly are we seeing? An epidemic of severe mental illnesses going untreated or widespread psychosis from drug use, which can occur with heavy or prolonged methamphetamine use in some individuals?"

"According to police, doctors and service providers, the answer is both," she continues. "And most often, it's a combination of the two, with methamphetamine acting as a symptom-provoking culprit."

In the summer of 2017, WW talked to people living on Portland's streets, who reported meth had eclipsed opioids as the most common illicit drug for people living outside.

Related: What's the Drug of Choice for Portland's Homeless?

In her Street Roots story, Green chronicles not only the cause but the difficulties of addressing those two issues with some striking statistics. The story can be read here.

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