‘Our Families'
Basic rights
campaign
embraces
diversity
See Metro, page 11
Suicides
on the Rise
Emergency
providers deliver
a message o f hope
and prevention
See Metro, page 11
H^nrtiatth
___________
Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
'City o/Roses’ " W r
XXXXI. Number 42
Volume XXXXI,
Wed
Wednesday
• October 19. 2011
P c io k v l i r
I «-» 1970
1070
Established
¡n
of
community' service
Com m itted to Cultural Diversity
Hij ackedby Opioids
Drug causes
more deaths than
heroin and cocaine
combined
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
F our years ago, a m iddle-class P ortland
resident T arek A shurex, then 22, saw his
physician for pain in his left shoulder due to
several prior shoulder separations. W ith
surgery not an option, he began taking pain
killers such as V icodin, O xycodone, and
P ercocet prescribed to him by his doctor.
A y ear later, after his prescription ran out
and his pain rem ained, A shurex w as sent to
a pain clinic in V ancouver, w here he received
sharp increases in his narcotic doses. T ru st­
ing he w as in the hands o f m edical p rofes­
sionals, the risk o f addiction never occurred
to him , and he continued taking the pills.
W hen the clinic shut dow n, and his do cto r
w ent to ja il for overprescribing patients in
return for thousands o f dollars in kick backs
he w as receiving from pharm aceutical co m ­
panies, A shurex w as taking about 5 40 m illi­
gram s o f O xyC ontin a day -e n o u g h to tran-
quilize a horse.
A fter his 90-day supply ran out, A shurex
didn ’ t think anything o f it. T hen, unexpected
sym ptom s o f drug w ithdraw als sank in. S ick­
ness overcam e him with flu-like sym ptom s o f
frequent vom iting and abdom inal cram ps. It
hurt to do anything. H e w ent to the doctor
by
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The misuse o f prescriptions is a growing problem for substance abuse.
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‘You can always find a doctor that
is shady enough to prescribe to you ’
— Tarek Ashurex,26, a Portland resident seeking treatment for opioid addiction that began
4 years ago when a doctor prescribed him pain killers for severe shoulder pain.
again. T hey prescribed him V icodon.
“Instantly I felt like a m illion b u ck s,” said
A shurex, then 24 years old, “All my problem s
w ent aw ay ,” he said. It w as then he realized
V* WMBLft
that he w as hopelessly addicted to opioids.
N ow , at 26, A shurex is searching for another
doctor, one that will to help him o ff pain
killers, an addiction he fears m ay be life long.
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C ari H a i hmann / T he P ortland O bserver
“T his is an addiction that I w ould never
w ish on an y o n e,” he said, “ E ven m y w orst
en em y .”
A shurex is one o f tw o m illion A m ericans
d ependent on prescription pills o r opioids,
w hich the W orld H ealth O rganization recog­
nizes as a brain disease. A ccording to the
Institute o f A ddiction M edicine, from 1998
to 2003, the m isuse o f opioid prescription
p ainkillers increased by 140 percent.
T oday, A m ericans are the largest group o f
continued
on page 10
Money Runs Out for Gang Prevention
House of Umoja closes after
two decades of helping youth
by M indy C ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
A fter 23-years o f helping A fri­
can-A m erican youth stay aw ay from
gangs, the H ouse o f U m oja w as
forced to close its doors after fun d ­
ing for the program w as cut entirely.
T h e H ouse o f U m oja ceased o p ­
erations on Sept.3O, an abrupt end
for a gang p revention program that
reach ed o v er 2 00 youth, ages 11 to
18, each y ear through academ ic
su p p o rt, m ental h ealth services,
m entor services and basic needs
su p p o rt.
A lthough the cen ter has o p er­
ated under the um brella o f Lifeworks
N W since 2009, W alter B utler, the
directo r o f the program , said they
still c o u ld n ’t find the resources to
help the program rem ain afloat.
“W e ’ve been struggling for a
long tim e,” said Butler.
He explained that once U m o ja’s
board m erged w ith L ifew orks, all
private donors seem ed to have d is­
appeared. “ E verything w e d o is
free, and what we give the kids com es
from us,” he said. “W e had the b ig ­
gest life skills netw ork in Portland
Public schools, but now , they w ant
us to d efer the youth to oth er p ro­
gram s.
L ast m o n th , the C en ters fo r D is­
e ase C o n tro l an d P re v e n tio n se ­
le c te d P o rtla n d to be o n e o f ju s t
fo u r c o m m u n itie s to sh a re a fe d ­
e ra l g ra n t to fin d w ay s to p re v e n t
g an g and g u n v io le n c e , w h ic h has
c la im e d the liv e s o f n in e y o u th
continued
on page 8