Important Takeaways:
- Report Reveals 300% Surge in Death of Homeless People in LA Amid Fentanyl Crisis
- These tragic deaths, averaging nearly six per day, underscore the severity of the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the streets and in shelters across the county.
- Over the past decade, a total of 11,573 deaths of unhoused individuals have been logged, with fatalities steadily climbing each year. In 2023 alone, 2,033 lives were lost—an astonishing 291% increase from 2014 and an 8% uptick from the previous year.
- The data, however, likely underestimates the true scope of the crisis, as it only captures deaths falling under the medical examiner’s jurisdiction, excluding cases where individuals recently saw a doctor.
- The LA County public health department, employing more comprehensive methodologies, estimates a 20% increase in deaths recorded in its database, further underscoring the magnitude of the crisis. Behind these stark statistics lie stories of profound human suffering and struggle.
- The autopsy reports from 2023 highlight the myriad challenges facing unhoused individuals: the proliferation of fentanyl, untreated physical and mental illnesses, and the absence of affordable housing. Tragically, many deaths are attributed to overdoses, violence, and untreated medical conditions, reflecting the harsh realities of life on the streets.
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Important Takeaways:
- Dem-led Portland declares state of emergency over fentanyl crisis: Oregon Governor wades into turmoil three years after woke city decriminalized drugs that has caused ‘economic and reputational harm’
- Oregon leaders have declared a 90-day state of emergency in Portland to battle the city’s debilitating fentanyl crisis three years after decriminalizing possession of all drugs.
- Governor Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson made the declaration and are directing their agencies to work with first responders in connecting people addicted to the synthetic opioid with resources including drug treatment programs and to crack down on drug sales.
- Fentanyl addicts who interact with first responders in Portland’s downtown in the next 90 days will be triaged by this new command center. Staff can connect people with various resources from a bed in a drug treatment center to meeting with a behavioral health clinician to help with registering for food stamps.
- ‘Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond,’ Kotek said.
- Oregon became the first state in the country to decriminalize the possession of all drugs including heroin and cocaine in 2020.
- But residents have since demanded for politicians to take action on the open-air drug markets that surfaced and fueled a homelessness crisis.
- Opioid deaths in Oregon more than tripled from 280, before the de-criminalization of drugs was voted in, to 955 in 2022.
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