Governor Declares Drug Emergency

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, along with Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and other state officials on Tuesday, declared a fentanyl state of emergency for downtown Portland as drug use, dealing and overdose deaths continue to ravage Oregon’s largest city. The plan now is to attempt to synchronize city, state and county responses to the public health and safety crisis through an incident command structure that is aimed to mimic those used during emergency events such as severe weather incidents.