Several elected leaders in Oregon declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for downtown Portland over the public health and public safety crisis fueled by fentanyl.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson made the declaration for a 90-day period during which collaboration and response will come from a command center downtown. The three governments are directing their agencies to work with first responders in connecting people addicted to the synthetic opioid with resources including drug treatment programs and to crack down on drug sales.
“Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond,” Kotek said in a statement.
It’s a mess. They decriminalized drugs and now tons of cheap drugs are everywhere. One news report says it only costs 80 cents for a fentanyl pills. Downtown is a mess with litter and requires constant cleanup crews to clean up human shit, needles and misc trash. This has been going on for years. I’m happy they have declared state of emergency but it seems a couple years too late.