90 days of experiment: Portland decrees a state of emergency to wean itself off fentanyl. The substance has left Multnomah County, where the city is located, with an increase in fatal overdoses of 533% in the last four years.
“We have never seen a drug this addictive and we are grappling with our response,” Governor Tina Kotek admitted. The emergency declaration allows state, county and municipal authorities to establish ground zero in downtown Portland, which has seen how the emergency has also caused an economic crisis.