9 deaths in mass overdose incident in Austin involving dozens: 'One of the worst we've seen'



Austin law enforcement says that a mass overdose incident is to blame for nine deaths and nearly 80 suspected overdoses over the last week in downtown Austin.

The Austin Police Department said that officers and the Austin-Travis County EMS began to respond to numerous reports of overdoses on Monday. The wave subsided after several days but ended up taking the lives of nine people and leading to dozens overdosing.

Law enforcement officials and non-profit organizations tried to battle the mass overdose incident by distributing Narcan and informing at-risk residents of the bad batch of drugs.

Emergency responders said they attended to 36 suspected overdoses on Monday and 27 on Tuesday, with 7 more on Wednesday.

Christa Stedman, the public information officer for Austin-Travis County EMS, said in a media briefing that the distribution of Narcan had unquestionably saved lives.

"We've seen in just a couple of days the numbers dramatically decline, that's a great thing, and I think that speaks to the incredible work that both our community help paramedic team and our partners have done in essentially flooding the city with Narcan."

Lily Hughs of the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance said that her team of volunteers had been out in the community trying to get the word out about the bad batch of drugs so that users could avoid the threat.

Hughes said they also offered training for drug users who wanted to learn how to use Narcan.

“We took extra time to do training and talk them through, and made sure every single person we talked to knew what was going on," she said.

EMS said they had handed out about 400 doses of Narcan while the THRA said they had handed out about 100 doses.

Austin police later said that they had detained two persons of interest related to the overdoses. One of those suspects was identified as 55-year-old Johnny Lee Wright, who was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

A second person who was unidentified was arrested on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

Investigators said they identified Wright and another person through the use of high resolution cameras that recorded Wright allegedly handing off narcotics to users after having received them from the unidentified suspect.

Police said that Wright and the second person were “known by officers who regularly worked the downtown area as narcotics dealers."

Here's a news report about the incident:

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Overdose rates up 700% in Oregon after the state decriminalized the possession of hard drugs



Overdose rates in the state of Oregon rose by 700% after voters in the state approved a ballot measure to decriminalize all hard drugs.

Voters in the state of Oregon voted to decriminalize all hard drugs in the pursuit of encouraging those struggling with drug addiction to seek medical help. The measure, referred to as Ballot Measure 110, was the first of its kind in the U.S. and went into effect in February of 2021 after being approved by the public the year before.

Ballot Measure 110 made it so that it was no longer a felony or misdemeanor of any kind to possess drugs in the state of Oregon. At most, people carrying hard drugs are subject to a maximum fine of $100 which can be waived if the person receiving the citation calls a public hotline and receives a free health assessment.

If a person is found to be carrying a “personal amount” of drugs like heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine at most, they will receive a $100 fine.

Of the $300 million that was meant to be allocated to public health resources to fight addiction, only $40 million has been dispersed.

The Daily Mail reported that Ballot Measure 110 has largely had an inverse effect and has led not to more people seeking treatment but to more drug-related deaths and the proliferation of hard drug use throughout Oregonian communities.

Republican state official Lily Morgan said, “We have overdoses increasing at drastic rates.”

Morgan said, “In my community, [there has been] a 700% increase in overdoses and a 120% increase in deaths.”

Shemia Fagan, the Oregonian Secretary of State, said that Oregon residents approved Ballot Measure 110 to “improve the lives of people, to improve our communities.”

Fagan said, “When the voters of Oregon passed Measure 110, we did so because it was a change of policy in Oregon to improve the lives of people, to improve our communities, and in the years since, we haven’t seen that play out.”

She concluded, “Instead, in many communities in Oregon, we’ve seen the problem with drug addiction get worse.”

Steve Allen, Oregon’s behavioral health director, acknowledged that there has been a “dramatic” increase in overdoses and overdose deaths, but he attributed much of these to an influx of methamphetamine laced with fentanyl.

Allen indicated a belief that if public health resources received enough funding and support, then overdose deaths would decrease as the state’s drug problem begins to improve.

He said, “Getting these resources out to the community is incredibly important — not just the harm reduction resources, but people who can support folks who are at risk for overdose.”