OREGON
Saturday, December 21, 2019
East Oregonian
A9
Consulting fi rm set to walk away from DHS contract
and Alvarez & Marsal
agreed to increase the com-
pany’s compensation to
$3.5 million.
The company was orig-
inally to be paid up to
$280,000 under its con-
tract executed May 2, state
records show. That fi gure
steadily multiplied in the
following months.
Initially, the contract was
due to end Oct. 26. Contract
extensions in May, August
and October were reviewed
by a state procurement offi -
cial and the Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice, according
to Gov. Kate Brown’s offi ce.
Brown’s April 18 exec-
utive order intervening at
DHS allowed the state to
suspend or change its pol-
icies on hiring and con-
tracting to expedite those
processes.
“The extensions were
granted after (Alvarez &
Marsal) demonstrated they
were making progress in
Alvarez & Marsal
expected to clear
$3.5 million
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Consultants
hired to lift Oregon’s foster
care system out of dysfunc-
tion were expected to close
up shop Friday. All told,
they are expected to walk
away with $3.5 million after
eight months of work.
While about 60 foster
children sent to facilities in
other states have come back
to Oregon as a result of the
work of Alvarez & Marsal,
a global consulting fi rm,
the impact on the thousands
of kids in Oregon’s foster
care system has yet to be
widely felt.
State records show that
in late October, the state
EO Media Group fi le photo
Oregon Department of Human Services headquarters. Con-
sultants hired to lift Oregon’s foster care system out of dys-
function were expected to close up shop Friday.
meeting the objectives of the
(executive order),” a spokes-
man for Brown, Charles
Boyle, wrote in an email.
“Progress was monitored
in daily check-in calls with
staff, weekly reports to the
governor, monthly meetings
of the Child Welfare Over-
sight Board, and in legisla-
tive briefi ngs.”
Alvarez & Marsal are
known for restructuring and
business services, contract-
ing with private companies
and governments across the
country to fi x problems and
fi nd effi ciencies.
Brown brought on the
consultants to overhaul the
state Department of Human
Services’ child welfare sys-
tem after a highly publi-
cized controversy over offi -
cials’ practice of sending
foster kids to residential
facilities in other states with
little oversight.
Last week, Oregon Pub-
lic Broadcasting published
an investigation into the
practice, fi nding that the
state entrusted vulnera-
ble kids to a private com-
pany, Sequel, that operates
residential facilities. Chil-
dren in those facilities have
been hurt and abused, OPB
reported.
Brown said the consul-
tants would focus on internal
operations of Oregon DHS
to improve internal practices
and procedures that would
provide better treatment of
Oregon foster kids.
The consultants told
state offi cials in a brief-
ing Tuesday that hurdles
remain. That briefi ng,
which lays out areas where
DHS still has trouble and
steps to fi x those problems,
was provided to the Oregon
Capital Bureau by the gov-
ernor’s offi ce.
The consultants said that
Oregon’s foster care pro-
gram struggles with pri-
oritizing and carrying out
projects, and that it should
set up clear “roles, respon-
sibilities and measurable
goals.” DHS must work bet-
ter with the state’s health
agency to meet kids’ needs,
they said.
They also recommended
that the team that reviews
deaths of children report
directly to the director of
the state child welfare pro-
gram. Information from
those reviews should be
used to better train work-
ers, consultants said.
Oregon Liquor Control Commission bans CBD-infused alcohols
CBD helps them,” said Wise.
Customers still have
options. The ban doesn’t
apply to drinks that aren’t
alcoholic and Growler Guys
has four taps of CBD-in-
fused soft drinks.
So, does Wise think cus-
tomers will be OK getting
their CBD from something
other than alcohol?
“They may,” she said.
“But they still prefer the
beer.”
Up to now, Oregon has
been relatively permissive
in its approach to CBD con-
sumption. In 2015, the state
Legislature said hemp and
marijuana could legally be
added to foods.
Sunny Summers, the
cannabis policy coordinator
with the Oregon Department
of Agriculture, said since
then CBD’s been added to
all kinds of things.
“People are adding it to a
By KRISTIAN
FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — The Oregon
Liquor Control Commission
passed a ban Thursday on
manufacturing and selling
alcohol that’s been mixed
with CBD, an inactive ingre-
dient of cannabis, but one
that has medicinal qualities.
The Growler Guys in
South Portland has 40 dif-
ferent beers on tap, said Sue
Wise. She orders them and
said her customers aren’t
going to appreciate the
OLCC ban on infusing alco-
hol with cannabidiol — the
non-psychoactive ingredi-
ent in cannabis, often short-
handed to CBD.
“People feel like the
CBD in the beer is helpful,
whether it’s for muscle pain
or other injuries they have.
People really believe the
shot to coffee or smoothies
for example. I’ve seen donuts
that have it. Gummies. Gum
… I’ve seen sodas with CBD
in it. Pretty much, if you can
imagine it people are likely
looking at it or have done it,”
said Summers.
Several Oregon brewers
jumped on the CBD trend
and introduced beers con-
taining the cannabis chem-
ical that people use for a
range of medicinal purposes.
But alcohol is different
from food and falls squarely
under the purview of the
Oregon Liquor Control
Commission. The executive
director, Steve Marks, said
those beers are not techni-
cally legal.
“Both federal govern-
ment and (the state) should
be enforcing against that,”
said Marks.
To some degree, Marks
is following in the footsteps
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nies aren’t suffi ciently test-
ing CBD to see how much
is being mixed into drinks.
Second, he’s worried some
of the psychoactive ingredi-
ents of marijuana are being
included in products.
“And the third thing is
CBD themselves, while
Merry &
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Marks said the OLCC’s
ban is needed for three
main reasons. First, compa-
May Your Holidays be
CELEBRATE THE SEASON
WITH SAVINGS.
2019
OPB Photo/Kristian Foden-Vencil
Sue Wise at Growler Guys in South Portland said customers
will miss their CBD-infused beer.
they’re greatly purported for
their health effects, there is a
lot of concern about particu-
larly the effect of high quan-
tities of CBD on the liver,
which is also affected by
alcohol,” said Marks.
Researchers at the Uni-
versity of Arkansas recently
looked into the toxicity of
CBD in mice and found an
elevated risk of liver injury.
Over the last few years,
all kinds of health claims
have been made by those
selling CBD-infused prod-
ucts — from lotions prom-
ising pain relief to tinctures
for anxiety.
Last year, the U.S. Food
and Drug Administra-
tion approved the new drug
Epidiolex, which uses CBD
to treat childhood epilepsy.
Marks said for people
who use CBD medicinally,
they’ll still be able to buy
their creams and soft drinks.
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