Oregon Declares a State of Emergency

Oregon has just declared a 90-day state of emergency over its rapidly accelerating fentanyl crisis.

This news comes only four years after Oregon became one of the first states in the nation to largely decriminalize hard drugs, including cocaine and heroine.

In Portland Oregon local and State come together to declare a state of emergency in fentanyl’s crisis.

Oregon became the first state in the country to decriminalize the possession of all drugs including heroin and cocaine in 2020. Pictured a man smoking crack in downtown… pic.twitter.com/0A7nERVc8m

— Judy ⛳️ (@judytgolf) January 31, 2024

To give you an idea of just how rampant fentanyl problems are in the state, between the years of 2018 and 2022, fentanyl overdose deaths went up in Oregon by over 500%…

Oregon had the chance to elect a Republican governor in 2022 but did not. From 2018 to 2022, the number of overdose deaths involving fentanyl increased by 533%.

Portland declares 90-day state of emergency to tackle fentanyl use https://t.co/8W1zIMQ3pa

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) January 31, 2024

Turns out making drug use legal wasn’t such a great idea after all…who would have thought?

Shocked I tell ya. WOKE Oregon decriminalized drugs and are horrified Portland instantly turned into open drug den. You can’t fix stupid. https://t.co/X0aJI4RPoY

— Dan Acton 🇺🇸🇮🇱 WDAN-OH: Truth, done Right (@DannoActon) January 31, 2024

The New York Post has more details on the state of emergency in Oregon:

A state of emergency was declared Tuesday over downtown Portland’s rampant fentanyl problems — just three years after Oregon became the first state to decriminalize drug use.

Gov. Tina Kotek, along with Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, each issued an ordinance to establish an emergency command center for drug overdose response and prevention for at least 90 days.

“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.

“The Chair, the Mayor and I recognize the need to act with urgency and unity across our public health and community safety systems to make a dent in this crisis. We are all in this together.”

The three simultaneous emergency declarations were issued to pool and “refocus existing resources” across the city, county and state jurisdictions, Kotek’s office said.

The center will serve as an immediate care access site, where those addicted to synthetic opioids will be connected with resources from a bed in a drug treatment center to meeting with a behavioral health clinician to help with registering for food stamps.

The Daily Mail gave some information on the debilitating fentanyl crisis Oregon is now facing:

Oregon became the first state in the country to decriminalize the possession of all drugs including heroin and cocaine in 2020.

But residents have since demanded for politicians to take action on the open-air drug markets that surfaced and fueled a homelessness crisis.

Opioid deaths in Oregon more than tripled from 280, before the de-criminalization of drugs was voted in, to 955 in 2022.

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According to the Oregon Healthy Authority, there were 21 non-pharmaceutical fentanyl deaths in Multnomah County in 2019, before decriminalization was passed. The data has not been updated since.