By Conrad Wilson (OPB)
May 30, 2023 8 a.m.
For years, Oregonians have reported some of the highest rates of substance use disorder in the nation on federal surveys. The opioid crisis is nearly three decades old and use of methamphetamine, long Oregon’s deadliest drug, has not abated. At the same time, the state consistently has among the lowest treatment availability in the country, according to surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Fentanyl — a cheap, incredibly addictive synthetic opioid — has made all of those problems much worse.