The Portland Police Bureau is warning of “a potentially dangerous batch of drugs circulating the street marketplace” that has resulted in 8 suspected overdose deaths in the city since Friday.
Evidence indicates that some of the victims believed they were using cocaine but that the substance they ingested was pure powdered fentanyl or a mix of cocaine and fentanyl, police said.
There were two reported overdose deaths in Portland on Friday, five more on Saturday and another on Sunday, police said. The deaths occurred across the city, with the victims’ ages ranging from 37 years old to 69 years old, with two unknown.
The deaths continue to be investigated by police and the medical examiner.
This rash of fatal drug overdoses comes about six weeks after downtown Portland saw 11 overdoses, with three deaths, in one day in downtown Portland.
