City, county, and state of Oregon update fentanyl emergency efforts after 30 days

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Thirty days after the City of Portland, Multnomah County and the State of Oregon declared a fentanyl emergency, representatives of the tri-government declaration are sharing what, if anything, has changed.

Gov. Tina Kotek, County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler first kicked off the 90–day initiative to combat the drug’s ongoing impact. Within a week, Multnomah County made a permanent emergency declaration.

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During a Thursday roundtable meeting, city officials and law enforcement reflected the changes made within the past month. Prior to the emergency declaration, Portland Police Sgt. Jerry Cioeta said the level of addiction had become unmanageable.

“I have been a Portland police officer for almost 27 years, and I have gone through the crack addiction, I’ve gone through the meth addiction, I’ve gone through the heroin addiction, and fentanyl is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s crazy,” Cioeta said. “I have had more people dying of overdoses – in literally my hands – more than anytime in my career.”

So far, the emergency targeting the Portland city center has closed two container return centers to address the bottle-to-cash-to-fentanyl cycle police have seen in these areas. So far, these locations are the Safeway at Southwest 11th Avenue and Jefferson Street and the Plaid Pantry a few blocks away.

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But Multnomah County representative Jennifer Vines said coordination between the state county and city is their main goal.

“I think in our response, what you’re seeing and hearing, is us start to weave together what we need to treat fentanyl addiction – which is a combination of housing and treatment,” she said.

City representative Mike Myers added that it will leverage resources, collect public health and law enforcement data, and find gaps in housing and treatment.

“The goal of this emergency is to coordinate the effort and build a common strategy so we can augment the effort that gets results, and we can start driving down the drug addiction issues that we are seeing on the streets of Portland,” he said.

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A month in, Myers said the thing that has impressed him the most is the amount of dealer arrests made by Oregon State Police, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, and the Portland Police Bureau. He also lauded Portland Fire’s new overdose response team.

“Let’s be very clear: Our intent is to arrest the drug distribution dealers out there on the streets,” he said. “The users out there on the streets, we want them to be able to get access to treatment beds, and if they’re houseless, to give them access to temporary shelter centers.”

Within the past 30 days, officials say they have been in the process of developing a mission statement, objectives, goals and metrics. They’ve also heard briefings from law enforcement agencies, health officers, the Joint Office of Homeless Services and other groups focusing on outreach.

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However, the declaration focused on Portland’s city center has also led critics – specifically Commissioners Sharon Meieran and Julia Brim-Edwards – to demand more urgent action. After failing to see a measurable outcome within the first two weeks, Meieran said a recent tri-government’s presentation “contained nothing of substance.”

“This has been with us for years, we’ve seen a huge increase in overdoses and deaths related to fentanyl, so I expected a lot more this morning and I expect really clear measurable goals laid out,” Brim-Edwards added.

KOIN 6 previously pointed out to Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson that it seemed like the emergency was addressing gaps in communication between the city, state and county rather than addressing the fentanyl emergency itself. This was her response:

“I think what the whole point of this is, fentanyl as a crisis is beyond any one government entity to be able to respond to. So all of us are bringing the resources, the expertise together so that we are able to address this huge crisis,” Vega Pederson said.

When asked by KOIN 6 whether she was satisfied with what she heard, Brim Edwards said “Not at all.” She elaborated she thinks “collaboration can’t be the primary outcome.”

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