PORTLAND, Ore. — A bag of used makeup and a lint roller are all part of Lacey’s defense to street life.
“I feel a little bit more like a normal person, not like a homeless junkie,” she said, while powdering her cheeks with a chocolate-scented bronzer. Lacey grew up in Lake Oswego. She’s now 31 years old, homeless in Portland and addicted to fentanyl.
“I’m not proud of it. I don't want to do this anymore,” Lacey said, fighting back tears.
The life she tries to numb is one example of what's behind Portland’s 90-day fentanyl state of emergency county, city and state leaders each declared in late January. As part of that emergency, the Multnomah County health department released a new way to track the number of people overdosing and dying from fentanyl. It's a public overdose dashboard.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the data shows 785 people died from suspected or confirmed overdoses in 2023.
So far this year, 186 people have died from an overdose and 68 of those were from fentanyl. That's lower than this same time last year when 138 people died from a fentanyl overdose.
“I think it would be more, just from the basis of what I’ve seen,” said Matthew, who stays in a tent next to Lacey on Southwest 15th Avenue and Taylor Street.
Matthew pulled out a folded piece of foil from his leather jacket pocket — where he stashes his fentanyl. An orange wax-like line was melted into the creases. At his estimate, it was about 20 hits — just enough to get him through the morning.
The county data shows Portland Fire has responded to 674 non-fatal overdoses this year, and 392 people have gone to the hospital because of opioids. Under the emergency order, police have also been targeting certain Southwest Portland blocks attempting to stop drug dealers.
“As far as the downtown area getting cleaned up, like I said, I think the police are doing a really good job, but it's going to be some other area, some other time, and the problem's just going to get worse,” Matthew said.
The county hopes to be able to track the rate at which drugs other than fentanyl are killing people but the current focus under the emergency order is on fentanyl. Those living on the streets said the data only goes so far, and that they’re looking for more detox and treatment services.