Information for Public Use obtained emails showing the police chief, top city staff, and nonprofit executives in Medford, Oregon attempted to prevent $1.5 million of state money from being awarded to Stabbin’ Wagon, a local harm reduction nonprofit critical of the law enforcement.
Enter your email below to get stories like this your inbox.
Stabbin’ Wagon has been selected by the Oregon Health Authority to operate a peer-run respite, which would provide much needed mental health resources in Southern Oregon. The documents obtained by Information for Public Use reveal the behind-the-scenes hostility from local government toward Stabbin’ Wagon.
In subsequent reporting from The Lund Report, Stabbin’ Wagon’s attorney Alicia LeDuc Mongomery “said the emails also raise concerns about the motives behind city officials and treatment providers, whom she suggested are targeting Stabbin’ Wagon because they hold different ideological views.”
Peer respites are a voluntary alternative to psychiatric hospitalization, and Stabbin’ Wagon’s Mountain Beaver House would provide 24/7 support to adults experiencing emotional distress and crisis.
The emails represent a dynamic playing out across the US: cops and service providers are collaborating to maintain forms of treatment that keep them powerful, despite broad evidence that their coercive programs fuel and perpetuate harm.
Media Generated
A Drug-Decriminalization Fight Erupts in Oregon
An ambitious law set forth a more humane way to address addiction. Then came the backlash.
By E. Tammy Kim
Stabbin Wagon’s $1.5 million grant raises questions, emails show
City of Medford, police contacted OHA with concerns about the Medford nonprofit
By Eric Bengel
The Lund Report, September 12, 2023
Facing backlash over $1.5 million state grant, Stabbin’ Wagon speaks out
New friction surfaces in Medford as Oregon tries to set up respite centers for people in mental health crisis
By Jake Thomas
View and Download Records