State Declares Fentanyl State of Emergency: Opens ‘Command Center’

Suddenly, fentanyl has become an emergency for Portland. They don’t plan to do a thing to stop it though, the state of emergency was declared so Oregon Governor Tina Kotek can “centralize” resources for the addicts. They’re setting up a nifty new “emergency command center for drug overdose response and prevention.”

Fentanyl emergency declared

A “rising number of fentanyl deaths” prompted Oregon Governor Tina Kotek to declare “a state of emergency in Portland,” on Tuesday, January 30.

Even Democrats in the state are calling for the “roll back” of their drug decriminalization law. As tempting as that sounds, progressives have other plans.

Proudly standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the podium with Governor Kotek was Portland’s Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.

Portland declares 90 day emergency for Fentanyl crisis
The same city council that defunded the police in 2020.

Dem-led Portland declares state of emergency over fentanyl crisis
Oregon leaders have declared a 90-day state of emergency in Portland to battle the city’s… pic.twitter.com/sHmN172bAM

— floridanow1 (@floridanow1) January 31, 2024

Together, they proudly announced the establishment of “an emergency command center for drug overdose response and prevention for at least 90 days.” They’ll throw some money at the fentanyl problem and see what happens.

“Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond,” Kotek noted in her prepared remarks.

“The next 90 days will yield unprecedented collaboration and focused resources targeting fentanyl and provide a roadmap for next steps.” Cracking down on users is out of the question. Going after the dealers would deprive the poor addicts so they can’t do that either.

Revitalizing the city

There are so many homeless zombies doing the fentanyl shuffle down the sidewalk and crapping in doorways that business abandoned the city in herds. They created a task force last year, “aimed at revitalizing the city’s downtown.”

One of the recommendations was to declare a state of emergency. That was intended to focus on eradicating the problem but Democrat leadership dosen’t see it that way.

Instead, they’re going to pile all the money they can scrounge into a single center. That will let them “refocus existing resources.”

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

They hope that one single crisis HQ can best handle the flow of “data collection and response coordination between local, county and state governments.” Ever since they made possession and use of just about everything legal, synthetic opioids like fentanyl have caused a spike in overdoses.

While it’s clearly true that Oregon is “dealing with the largest increase in synthetic overdose deaths in the country and the third highest of all overdose deaths,” some see the fentanyl problem as a “self-correcting” one. Portland seems to take that approach.

By enabling addicts to maintain a steady supply of deadly drugs, the overdose level will soon reduce back down to zero, after the last addict falls over. That will put the dealers out of business and everyone will be happy.

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