By Joe Smith
Lawmakers in Portland, Oregon are battling to stem the tide of addiction and death that is sweeping their city after a state of emergency was declared as fentanyl use reaches catastrophic levels.
Cops in Portland hand out $100 citations to users caught openly taking the potent, intensely addictive, synthetic opioid on the city streets. Addicts are also handed a card with a number they can call to erase the fine, if they agree to engage with addiction treatment services.
The scheme is part of measures brought in to combat the fentanyl epidemic in Portland after the city mayor, county chairperson and the governor declared a 90-day state of emergency in late January. This week state lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to reverse a 2020 law that decriminalised possession of hard drugs, including fentanyl.
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Oregon’s governor Tina Kotek is reportedly still deciding whether to approve or veto the bill. “Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly and addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond,” Governor Kotek said in a statement in January announcing Portland’s fentanyl emergency declaration. She vowed “unprecedented collaboration and focused resources” ahead of a “roadmap for next steps.”
In the wake of the state of emergency being declared Portland’s first responders have sprung into action, the city’s Community Safety Division Director Mike Myers said Thursday. Drug dealer arrests are up, the fire department has launched an overdose rapid response team and known hangouts for users have been “saturated” by outreach workers looking to connect people with treatment, recovery and housing services, he reported. Emergency services are also working together and sharing intel in an unprecedented manner.
The unprecedented nature of the drug fentanyl means that this is a new kind of crisis which requires new tactics to tackle it, officials have said. “This addictive behaviour is not something to be taken lightly and, not to be like, ‘Oh, just get a job,’ or ‘Just get help,’” said Portland Police Chief Bob Day. “There are demons there that I could never understand.”
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Fentanyl is so addictive that users typically need to score multiple times a day, compared to just once or twice for heroin addicts, meaning fentanyl completely takes over people’s lives in a way even other addictive substances do not. The sky-high potency of the drug also means users are far more likely to overdose with higher rates of fatality than users of other drugs.
This rise in addiction and deaths has coincided with a major change in the state’s approach to drug policy - in 2020 Oregon voted to adopt Measure 110, a “health-based approach to addiction and overdose is more effective, humane and cost-effective than criminal punishments.”
“Essentially what has happened is drugs in Oregon are the same as a traffic ticket,” Portland police Officer David Baer told CNN. This against a backdrop of rapidly spiking drug deaths; from 280 opioid overdose deaths in Oregon in 2019 to 956 in 2022 and 628 recorded so far for last year.
However there is no evidence linking Measure 101 to Oregon’s increase in fatal overdoses, according to scientific research published in JAMA Psychiatry. Nationwide overdose deaths involving fentanyl have also skyrocketed, rising nearly four-fold over five years through 2021, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
But critics have blasted Measure 101, with Republican state Rep. Jeff Helfrich branding it an “an unmitigated disaster.” Officials in Portland say the state of emergency will have a positive impact on the city’s fentanyl crisis, but it will not happen overnight.
Steps are being taken to increase public awareness of fentanyl’s addictive qualities, increase access to tools like naloxone which can reverse the fatal effects of overdoses, and expand access to treatment and recovery but there is no doubt the city has a huge task on its hands. One fentanyl user on Portland’s streets said it was still a struggle to seek help. “People don’t know where to go, or who to call, or how to access the resources,” Chelan told CNN. “There’s treatment facilities, but they’re all backed up right now.”
