Multnomah County recorded 322 fentanyl overdose deaths in 2023
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Multnomah County’s latest report details the fentanyl overdose deaths that have occurred within the area over the past six years.
Between 2018 and 2022, the county recorded 546 fatal fentanyl overdoses. Preliminary data show there were an additional 322 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2023.
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According to the Health Department’s report, the rate of fatal fentanyl overdoses per 100,000 residents was lower in Multnomah County than in the U.S. until 2022 — when the county’s rate rose about 60% higher.
In fact, when the report compared the per-capita fentanyl deaths in Multnomah County to two other West Coast cities, it found Oregon’s most populated county had a higher number of fatal overdoses per 100,000 than Seattle and San Francisco in recent years.
San Fransisco’s per capita death rate declined from 2021 to 2022 — the same period of time that Multnomah County’s rate was on the rise.
“When we spoke with their epidemiologist, they cited some emergency response work that they had done similar to Multnomah County [this year],” said Multnomah County Health Epidemiology Manager Emily Mosites. “They did their emergency response in 2022.”
The data also depict the average number of fentanyl overdose deaths per month in Multnomah County. In 2018 and 2019, county officials recorded about two fatalities monthly. In 2023, which currently only has data through August, the average surged to 36 deaths.
Over time, the county saw an increase in overdose deaths caused by fentanyl and a psychostimulant, namely methamphetamine.
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About 27% of fatal overdoses in 2018 involved fentanyl and a psychostimulant. Preliminary numbers from last year show 61% of the deaths were caused by at least two of the substances.
About 74% of Multnomah County residents who died of overdoses within the past six years were men. More than half of them were between 18 and 44 years old, and 77% of the now-deceased individuals were white.
However, officials noted that overdose deaths among Black, American Indian and Alaska Native people “exceeded the population proportion, highlighting a disproportionate impact on those communities.”
“There’s different ways of healing and providing medical services, including from, you know, tribal communities,” said Cameron Whitten, the founder of the non-profit organization Brown Hope, which aims to help address racial disparities in Portland. “And so making sure that we are valuing all forms of wisdom, both Western and indigenous, and making sure that it is available for folks that they can have the most effective care possible.”
In the foreword of the report, the Multnomah County Health Department lists isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic as one factor that worsened the overdose epidemic.
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“One antidote, then, can be fostering connection–connections within families and among neighbors, as well as maintaining connected, cohesive responses across agencies that serve the public,” the department said.
“The deaths represented in this report, and the inequities revealed here, demand collective attention and action across our community and from people in all walks of life: parents, educators, people who are using fentanyl, people in recovery, medical professionals, public health professionals, first responders, and neighbors,” officials added.
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