As someone who just came back from Portland with high expectations and instead stepped into a city where in downtown we were outnumbered by drug users, homeless, and other sketchy characters, I have to say you're right. We observed an ambulance trying to revive someone and another druggie crying in fear within the first half an hour of walking around.
The city is also covered in graffiti and full of shuttered, empty stores, it's almost apocalyptic. It's quite a sad state of affairs, and I say that as someone living in the Bay Area next to San Francisco and Oakland.
It's true, but I don't think this has anything to do with decriminalization. Covid and the months of protests and Portland becoming a target for Proud Boys and the like, those are what destroyed downtown. (AFAIK, the rest of Oregon hasn't been hit in the same way at all. Even the rest of Portland is still pretty cool.)
The city is also covered in graffiti and full of shuttered, empty stores, it's almost apocalyptic. It's quite a sad state of affairs, and I say that as someone living in the Bay Area next to San Francisco and Oakland.