Springfield Police Sgt. Mike Massey visits a camp on “Heroin Hill” in Glenwood. [Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard]

On 'Heroin Hill,' drug use abates but doesn't vanish

As Springfield police Sgt. Mike Massey patrols the city, he often encounters people who are under the influence of drugs, including heroin or fentanyl — sometimes both.

Massey says his work has helped him understand how addictions often originate: with pain pills prescribed for an injury leading to drug abuse when a prescription runs out and the struggling user turning to heroin as a cheap alternative.

Among the areas Massey patrols is a section of Glenwood commonly referred to as “Heroin Hill.”

Although Glenwood falls under the Lane County sheriff's jurisdiction, Massey said Springfield police patrol a roadway that often leads them to the illegal activity on "the Hill," an access road between Franklin Boulevard and Interstate 5, a few miles from the University of Oregon.

Trekking through blackberry bushes, up and down slopes or behind trees, Massey finds campers just waking up around 11 a.m. Makeshift "homes" on the hillside are scattered along offshoots of the beaten path. "It’s just trails upon trails of hidden housings, and disposal sites for stolen stuff, garbage, rubbish, all in this landscape area," the sergeant said.

Now more of a homeless camp, the hillside got its nickname several years ago when heroin users frequented the area, Massey said.

A group of campers, including a man (center) who goes by the name Tennessee, gather in a makeshift shelter along Franklin Boulevard in Glenwood. [Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard]

At its peak for drug use five years ago, Heroin Hill drew about 100 people on any given day, he said. Then, as now, most of its inhabitants ranged in age from 30 to 50, he said.

"The Hill used to just be mainly for drugs," Massey said. "We'd see like in the trees, needles just stuck in the trees. It was bad. It's gotten a lot better.

"For the most part (people camping in the area) want to stay to themselves, that's why they're out here," he added. "But they have to find a way to fund their habits, and that's usually not lawfully. Or by employment."

During a late October day, at least a dozen campers were present. Additional camp sites appeared active, but their occupants weren't visible. A man with a pressure washer and a generator was tidying up his camp in the woods.

As Massey patrolled the area on foot, another man in the distance repeatedly yelled out "5-0" in an effort to warn others that police were in the area. Several people could be seen riding away on bikes.

A pile of hypodermic needles sat near a cluster of trees, and a rug adorned with the tears of joy emoji beside it partially covered possible drug paraphernalia.

A discarded emoji bath mat joins used syringes among garbage left behind on Heroin Hill in Glenwood. [Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard]

A camper nearby, who goes by the name of Karma, said she doesn't use heroin and doesn't know any of her Heroin Hill "neighbors" who do.

"That's an old name from an old reputation," she said. "I drink, I smoke pot, but I don't use that stuff. I haven't touched it in years. I won't go near it."

Karma said she's been homeless for nine years, but only moved to the Hill a few weeks ago when railroad workers cleared out a massive homeless camp on railroad property behind Franz Bakery in Glenwood. That area — nicknamed "The Swamp" — had a reputation for violence, with a lot of fights, assaults and other criminal activity, Massey said.

On the afternoon of Oct. 25, however, there was no sign a camp ever existed there. Fall leaves and the smell of fresh-baked bread were all that lingered in the formerly popular area.

Karma said she wasn't aware that fentanyl creeping into the local drug market, but she said it was good to know because she knew people killed by the drug.

"Fentanyl is bad,” Karma said. “It's very, very bad.”

> Keep reading: Sounding the alarm on fentanyl

Articles of clothing accompany a U.S. flag at a campsite on Heroin Hill in Glenwood. [Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard]

Follow Chelsea Deffenbacher on Twitter @ChelseaDeffenB. Email cdeffenbacher@registerguard.com.