PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — The 90-day trigovernmental emergency declaration on fentanyl has ended.
On Friday, Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, and Multnomah County woman Jessica Vega Pederson shared what’s been completed in the 90 days and what’s next.
Accomplishments include:
The results for the coming weeks and months are as follows:
“If there’s an open bed somewhere, we need to know where it is and get other people to come to it,” Kotek said.
Kotek and Vega Pederson say an online shelter tracking formula will streamline this process.
“This work ties into the work of the Joint Office of Homeless Services on a tool to share real-time data on shelter bed capacity,” Pederson said.
They will also expand a walk-in center that will accept all referrals from law enforcement and physical care agencies, as well as create mobile clinics that provide medically assisted treatment.
“Fentanyl requires medically assisted treatment because of the nature of addiction, and we all want to be more comfortable with that and have the resources to do it differently,” Kotek said.
The governor also announced that state police would remain in downtown Portland to deal with the crisis for the next six months.
“This 90-day fentanyl crisis declared in three tactics between the state, county, and city has allowed us to push for the implementation of those processes across the city,” Wheeler said. “This has allowed us to expand partnerships, such as the motorcycle patrol that includes the PPB and state police, and bodes well for a faster strategy to get other people off the streets and into homes. “
During the emergency, Kotek temporarily suspended the return of two bottles at the Plaid Pantry and Safeway in southwest Portland, which police considered a hotbed of fentanyl activity.
Kotek said those facilities have since resumed by law at the end of the emergency declaration, but she and Wheeler agree that perhaps the legislature will reevaluate Oregon’s Bottle Bill and its connection to drug trafficking.
“I think we all want to be ready to review our statewide bottle return policy and make some adjustments. This will be done through the legislature,” Kotek said.
“I’m interested in the economics of the fentanyl trade, and we deserve to compare whether or not bottled bottles fall into an ATM for fentanyl trading,” Wheeler said.