According to a report, Democrat Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said she had ordered state police to use new tactics to cut down the flow of fentanyl and bring those responsible to justice.
In the message, Kotek said she wanted Oregonians to know that additional fentanyl enforcement and disruption methods were being implemented.
At least eight individuals died in Portland during a single May weekend from what are believed to be drug overdoses, with six of those deaths possibly tied to fentanyl, according to Portland police.
In a research published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2022, the fatalities among adolescents caused by illegally obtained fentanyl and similar synthetics increased from 38 in 2010 to 884 in 2021. Because it is powerful, inexpensive to create, and addicting, fentanyl has become more popular in the clandestine counterfeit pill industry.
According to Kotek, the Oregon State Patrol has so far confiscated over 62 pounds of fentanyl powder and over 233,000 tablets this year.
Kotek said they attempt to curb the availability of fentanyl and make traffickers responsible for selling harmful narcotics. She remains dedicated to extending access to necessary behavioral health services.
According to the governor, more state police officers would be assigned to downtown Portland’s drug enforcement teams as part of her efforts to reinvigorate the area. The plan is to conduct training to address any prejudices in the state’s justice system and collaborative patrols to intercept fentanyl.
To address the global and local supply of illegal opioids like fentanyl, the Department of Homeland Security launched its own plan.
At the Family Summit on Fentanyl in Washington, DC, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Justice Department will be allocating $345 million in federal funds in 2024 toward initiatives such as expanding access to the overdose-reversal medicine Naloxone and sponsoring juvenile mentoring programs.
Oregon’s Medical Director of the Clackamas County Health Centers, Andrew Suchocki, has said that treating fentanyl addicts is difficult. He noted that fentanyl is so powerful that it typically overwhelms the opiate-detoxification medicines methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine.
People often give up on therapy because of the unpleasantness of withdrawal. It leads to a high failure rating because people do not want to repeat the event since it is highly distressing.
