In some ways, Blackburn's optimism bordered on the delusional. Heroin addiction has proven to be one of the most intractable social problems of the past 40 years, seducing lit majors, lawyers, musicians and dock workers with equal nonchalance. That's an experience most people never have. There are no days off. In addition to the insidious nature of the disease, heroin addiction just doesn't generate the same level of sympathy that issues like poverty or illiteracy do.
Junkies are, by definition, criminals.
But one year after Blackburn's defiant challenge, the impossible has happened. Fatal heroin overdoses in Multnomah County are falling. Something positive is happening out there. That something is not the result of cutting-edge technology, massive capital expenditures or armies of bureaucrats. The intersection of Northwest 2nd Avenue and Burnside Street has long been the epicenter of Portland's heroin trade, a zone where every greeting is ambiguous, every encounter freighted with double meaning.