Three Portland children under 4 overdosed within 10 days of each other after coming in contact with fentanyl in their homes, the Portland Police Bureau said Thursday.
Police officials said a 3-year-old and two 1-year-olds overdosed in June after they were exposed to fentanyl “left unsecured in their homes.” Capt. Jake Jensen of the bureau’s Specialized Resources Division, which includes the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit, said the string of overdoses in young children is unprecedented in the city’s recent history.
Jensen would not characterize the current condition of any of the three children, or even confirm that all three were alive, citing open investigations. The overdoses are not believed to be connected, he said.
“The most common forms of fentanyl we see are pills and powder,” Jensen said. “Often these pills and powder are brightly colored, which means they can easily be mistaken for candy and accidentally eaten by a young child. Because children’s bodies are smaller than adults, even the tiniest amount of residue can kill.”
Jensen said these three cases are part of a troubling rise in overdoses across age groups. Portland has recorded 137 fatal overdoses in the first half of 2023, well on pace to surpass last year’s 155 total known fatal overdoses, he said. Three of the deaths this year occurred on the day police responded to 11 suspected overdose calls in the city.
According to a 2022 analysis by the Oregon Health Authority, drug-overdose deaths nearly tripled statewide between 2019 and 2021, with officials attributing the increase to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid estimated to be 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The ingestion of just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can prove fatal to adults.
Oregon’s voter-approved Measure 110, which in 2021 removed criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of fentanyl and other street drugs, including methamphetamine and heroin, has made it difficult to combat the rise of overdoses, Jensen said.
“Decriminalizing small quantities of drugs has made it harder for us in our investigations, to get warrants to get into drug networks,” Jensen said. “It’s also made it hard for us to force people into drug treatment because a big part of the drug sentences for possession was being required to be on probation and go into treatment.”
Jensen is not alone with those concerns. A report from Portland State University published earlier this month – part of a multi-year study – said law enforcement officers in Oregon see Measure 110 as ineffective and harmful to public safety.
But Jensen said he’s hopeful that a bill passed last week by the Oregon Legislature that’s aimed at cracking down on some fentanyl use will make a difference.
House Bill 2645 makes having more than 1 gram and less than 5 grams of a substance with fentanyl a misdemeanor, and it also allows prosecutors to charge people based on how many fentanyl pills they’re accused of possessing — not just how much the pills weigh. When the bill goes into effect upon the governor’s signature, having between five and 24 pills will be a misdemeanor crime.
“As a police officer, the legislature and the city council hand me the laws and it’s my job to work with the stuff that we’ve been given to provide public safety,” Jensen said.
Having less than 1 gram of a substance with fentanyl or fewer than five pills is still a non-criminal violation subject to a $100 fine under Measure 110.
