Portland police are investigating a string of recent deaths that they believe are overdoses or in which an overdose was a contributing factor.
The three deaths occurred over a two-day period and the Portland Police Department is still awaiting confirmation from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner on the cause of death, said Maj. Robert Martin in an email.
The cases come amid a severe increase in fatal overdoses in the city. Martin said that as of Dec. 8, police had recorded 48 overdose deaths this year. By comparison, he said there were 21 fatal overdoses in 2021.
Martin said Sunday that as of Dec. 8 police have responded to 460 overdoses – which is up from 331 in 2021. Police earlier this year warned the city was seeing an increase in overdoses, both fatal and nonfatal. The state was also reporting increases as of July.
“It’s clear that the opioid epidemic is not slowing down and we are on track to surpass the record set in 2017 of 436 overdoses,” Interim Police Chief F. Heath Gorham said in a statement in July.
Martin did not respond to an additional question about where two of the three cases currently under investigation took place.
One of the possible overdose deaths Portland police are investigating took place Friday night in the area of the Walgreens parking lot and Bayside Trail off Marginal Way. The man’s death was reported around 9 p.m., Martin said.
“Nothing suspicious, but an autopsy will have to determine the cause and manner of death,” he said.
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