This was his fourth attempt at kicking a fentanyl habit that snuck up on him the same way it has so many Americans: an injury and a prescription. That morning, Hamilton had been sober for just over two months. The books he carried were among the 42 he read over the past 36 days he’d spent in jail for a parole violation - he had briefly, and without permission from his parole officer, moved to Portland. “Stuff like that still entertains me, but it’s not something that I want to be a part of anymore,” Hamilton said.
In a plastic bag under his arm, Hamilton carried a Bible and four Ashley & JaQuavis books about a drug cartel in Miami. Hamilton started using fentanyl after he broke his foot and got addicted to the opioids his doctor prescribed.Įarlier that morning, he had walked out of Umatilla County jail, past a family of bunnies snacking on the manicured lawn, crossed the parking lot and entered the parole and probation offices for a cognitive behavioral therapy class led by his parole officer. Michael Hamilton, 33, talks to his stepfather on the morning he was released from jail for a parole violation on May 5, 2023, in Pendleton, Ore. “I’m just trying to put a stop to all of it.” “I’m feeling pretty good now.”ĭrugs had taken too much of his life, he said, perched on a concrete barrier and taking drags on a vape pen. “I had seven months last time, then I went on a little bender,” he told him.
