‘It’s gotten worse’: People react to Monday’s mass overdose incident in Portland

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - On Monday morning, Portland first responders converged on North Park Blocks in the Pearl District, where eight people overdosed around the same time.

“What happened was unfortunate,” said one woman experiencing homelessness who didn’t want to be identified. “What’s important is that people care enough to take notice of the overdoses.”

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She wanted to thank those who stepped in, from first responders to a bystander officials say administered Narcan to one person before crews got there.

“People and people and some people do care,” said the woman. “They care enough to administer Narcan in a time of need. Thank you for doing that. A life could have been lost. Because people care, those people didn’t die.”

Portland Fire & Rescue says all eight were given Narcan and four were taken to the hospital. All are expected to survive. Officials believe the drug that was ingested was laced with fentanyl.

“The fact that there were eight overdoses yesterday was horrific and yet, completely understandable in the scheme of things,” said Robert Savage, who works near the park. “With these narcotics coming in where you might thing you’re buying one thing and you’re getting another with the common denominator in all of it that is killing people is fentanyl.”

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He’s seen the effects of the drug crisis and is calling on city and county leaders to do more to combat the growing problem in Portland.

“Over the course of the last two years I have personally at my office,” said Savage. “Found three bodies gone. Overdosed. I want to know why Multnomah County, the city of Portland, and the Joint Office isn’t releasing as much money as possible towards personnel on the street that can help solve this because I can tell you, they’re not. Nothing has changed in the last four years since I’ve been here. In fact, it’s gotten worse.”