Portland official says not to call 911 except in 'life or death' emergency as overdoses spike

Portland’s commissioner of public safety implored residents to refrain from calling 911 except for “life/death” situations on Monday.

Commissioner Rene Gonzalez said the city’s 911 system was being “hammered” with calls about drug overdoses and asked Portlandians to use the nonemergency hotline unless their life is in danger.The public safety commissioner’s request would additionally withhold victims of Portland’s rising crime from calling 911 if there is no chance of apprehending the suspect.

Our 911 system is getting hammered this morning with a multiple person incident - multiple overdoses in northwest park blocks.For non-emergency please use…Eight people suffered overdoses within blocks of each other in the hours immediately preceding the request to abstain from calling 911. It was reported that the people who overdosed were seen snorting cocaine presumably laced with fentanyl.

Hard drugs are decriminalized in the city of Portland, and Oregon lawmakers are attempting to make Narcan more widely available to the public in response to the growing number of overdose cases. A 2018 court ruling prohibits cities like Portland from preventing the homeless from sleeping outside in the absence of alternative shelter.

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