On Thursday, former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden both went to the US southern border. Now they were 300 miles apart. Texas is really, really big, but it just goes to show how big a role immigration will play for both parties in this year's election, and something Biden and Trump both agree is a big problem. Are the drugs flowing over the border, specifically fentanyl, now stopping the cartels and traffickers that bring fentanyl over the border? It's a tall task. And then there's the question of how to deal with the fentanyl that's already here. Overdose deaths remain near record highs. So how do you stop something that has so many people already hooked? My guest this week is CNN's Josh Campbell. He recently went to Portland, Oregon to see what one city's fight against fentanyl looks like up close. From CNN. This is one thing I'm David Ryan. Just tell me about Zach Didier.

Well, this case was really every parent's worst nightmare. Zach Didier was 17 years old. He was a thriving high school kid, an accomplished student, an actor at the school theater, an athlete, a musician. And in 2022, his father, Chris, went into Zach's bedroom in their home near Sacramento.

This is never an easy topic to talk about. It always hurts.

And Zach was slumped over his desk, unresponsive.

And as I approached him, he wasn't, a life I could feel before I even touched him that something was horribly wrong.

He called 911. Medics soon arrived and began attempting life saving measures on Zach, but they stopped after mere minutes and the medics turned to Chris and they said, I'm sorry.

And they just stood there and I got mad at them and said, guys, help me save my boy. And. When they didn't. I started trying to talk to Zach and begged him, don't go, comeback.

The Placer County Coroner soon arrived and spent several hours just looking around the home and examining Zach's bedroom, and they eventually came downstairs and told Chris and Laura the cause of death was a mystery then and there, but they were ruling out suicide, and the medical examiner said that they had two initial theories one an undetected medical condition, or two. Poisoning from fentanyl. Fentanyl, fentanyl. Yeah.

And that further spiraled us into confusion and debilitating confusion. It's like, why would you say that word? I've heard of fentanyl. I knew it was some kind of opioid. I knew it was powerful, but I would have never imagined it would be in our home. Yet along being Zach's body. Yeah. How would this possibly happen?

And if and after examining Zac's phone, police investigators finally found their answer using Snapchat. Zac and a friend had made contact with a drug dealer who was advertising various products that he was selling nearby at a mall. The teens purchased what they were told was the prescription pain reliever Percocet, but they were duped. They were instead sold a counterfeit pill. And sadly, Zach's story is now becoming alarmingly common.

Yeah, I've definitely heard of this kind of thing happening. But when we talk about fentanyl, like, what are we actually talking about here?

So fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid drug that was actually approved by the FDA for use in pain relief and as an anesthetic. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is about 100 times more potent than morphine and about 50 times more potent than the drug heroin. Now, it's important to note that we're talking about two separate crises here. On one hand, you have people like Zach Didier who are seeking out some other form of drug, but actually end up with a fentanyl laced pill or a counterfeit pill altogether. That is in reality, fentanyl. I recently met in a downtown parking garage with an undercover narcotics officer from the Los Angeles Police Department who described how these illicit schemes work. He said that for dealers, fentanyl itself is much cheaper than other drugs. So it's actually in the interest of these criminals to sell counterfeit pills. He showed me a side by side comparison of a real oxycodone pill and a fake pill containing fentanyl. And David, the two were indistinguishable. Same colors, same product stamping. Identical. Now, of course, I asked the LAPD detective why would dealers continue to sell products?

Said there was going to be my question. If it's killing their clients, why are they selling it?

No, it's an important question. In his answer, this detective, it was really stark. It actually left me speechless. He said that it all comes down to money. It all comes down to profit. The dealer's only objective is to get you hooked. And the words of this LAPD detective, if you don't die from their pills, then you're a customer for as long as you live. So counterfeit pills are one crisis, but it's important to understand that there are other people experiencing addiction who are actually seeking out fentanyl itself, longing for that feeling of relaxation and euphoria that this drug.

So they know that this is what they're getting into. And they want that.

They want it, they're seeking it. They're trying to get that high over and over again. But, you know, it's so highly potent and addictive that overdoses are all too common. It's actually ravaging streets across this country.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, Governor Tina Kotek and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Peterson committing to work together to come up with a plan within the next 90 days to solve Portland's fentanyl crisis.

Particularly in one city. And that's the city of Portland, Oregon.

Data from the county shows that from 2018 to 2022, fentanyl related overdoses increased by a staggering 533%.

The fentanyl crisis has become so acute in downtown Portland that the state, the county and the city all got together and just declared a state of emergency there. So we want to see it for ourselves.

So just before the break, you said that Portland, Oregon has sort of become the epicenter of this fentanyl crisis. They declared this 90 day state of emergency. So what does that actually look like on the ground?

That's what we wanted to find out. So our team actually went to Portland and met with a number of people, a number of stakeholders who are involved in this 90 day emergency. You essentially have a focus on three separate things. There's outreach, trying to get services to people, particularly people who are experiencing homelessness, who are also experiencing addiction. But the second part has to do with the addiction itself. Again, this drug so highly potent that, you know, the Oregon governor described it in announcing this 90 day emergency. She said that oftentimes because it's so potent that people who use fentanyl have to read dose that's inject again or consume the pill again, the drug sometimes within the span of 30 minutes.

Wow.

So you can imagine that even if someone wanted to seek help themselves, the amount of time that it would take to go into a clinic to fill out paperwork, to wait your turn, to go through all of that without then having to rush outside and go find another dose of that drug. It's just it's so challenging. And so that's what they're facing. But then the last prong of this emergency declaration pertains to law enforcement.

Let's go down to Burnside. Let's go check Chevron.

So we wanted to find out what police are actually dealing with on the streets. And we rode along with the downtown police bike squad. They are responsible for targeting dealers. They're also responsible for writing citations.

2020 things such things changed around. Fentanyl came on the scene at the same time. Everyone can solve crimes and decriminalize. And we saw fentanyl just take over.

Now an important backstory here, which is unique to Oregon. Back in 2020, voters in the state of Oregon actually decriminalized the use of several hard drugs, including fentanyl. So it's no longer a crime to use a drugs. But that doesn't mean that police aren't writing citations, one officer said. It's essentially like a traffic ticket.

Now that's it. That's compressed powder fentanyl.

So we went along with these officers. And the first thing that you notice, there are more and more people that you see just using drugs out in public.

So what just happened year old buying one of you caught one. Caught your eye.

Yeah. I mean, the nice thing about this is tin foil is really easy to spot, even in the dark. Yeah.

You can you can tell in talking with people who are experiencing this addiction that they are in crisis. But nevertheless, the police are charged with writing those citations whenever they see people who are actually in possession and actively using fentanyl in public.

And, this guy's out there with this smoking sidewalk here. The bus stop is right here. So, my partner is going to run his information, and he's gonna get the $100 fine for use of drugs and get the treatment card.

So, you know, but in Portland, police don't just write citations. They'll also hand someone a treatment card. Essentially, it contains a phone number. If the person calls that number and agrees to a treatment screening with an experienced addiction counselor that can actually waive the $100 fine that is associated with the ticket.

Wait, like a card, though? I don't know if this is too cynical, but handing out a business card to somebody who's struggling in the way that you described that maybe only a half hour before they need to re inject, is that can actually work in terms of persuading them to get the help they need.

It's a great point. And, you know, we often hear from law enforcement groups across the country that the police are often called upon these days to, be, you know, everything to everyone. But what this really means. And the police chief himself told me in our interview that this crisis will not be solved by law enforcement alone. And to that end, we met with the county health director there in Portland, and she described what this emergency declaration actually means. They're bringing people together who have never been in the same room at the same time for an extended period to try to address this threat. Secondly, we met with an outreach group known as Central City Concern, and I spoke with that organization's CEO, a man named Doctor Andy Mendenhall. And he described that the number of services that are needed, in the city, it's really, really dire. They are outpacing the amount of capacity that they need in order to get treatment to people. And that's something, you know, simple as as a beds, a place to stay. Now, when people think about all these services, this can seem somewhat bureaucratic and theoretical and academic. But we saw up close what treatment could actually mean. And if you've heard that there has been this emergency declaration regarding fentanyl. You heard that. What do you think about that.

I mean I think it's on point. Yeah. Yeah.

While we were along with the police going as they went through downtown trying to enforce the law, I came across a woman named Charlene. So your friend just got a ticket for. Of fentanyl.

They kind of call these iron jails. They've been doing to get so just kind of.

So you expected to go to jail?

Yeah. That's what would normally happen, you know.

But. Can you? For those who may not understand, how difficult is it to stop using fentanyl?

It's just.

And it took her a while to get there. She was speechless for a moment, trying to find the right words.

Words? Don't you know, there's there's not very many words for how difficult that is.

What's the what's the feeling like?

The feeling is like the worst sleep I've ever had. Times ten was added. Other crap, like your skin crawling and stuff, I mean.

And I asked her, well, are you hopeful that this emergency declaration will actually lead to some kind of change? And she said, yes, that's the ultimate goal, that you have so many people who are on the streets who are facing crisis, trying to get them to help they need is certainly something that that everyone welcomes. Have you tried to stop?

Yeah. I mean, I've had clean time, you know, and, and I'm trying to get back there now, really. But. Yeah, it's it's very difficult.

And finally I told her, look, I just met this incredible group of people from Central City concerned who provide the type of outreach that you were talking about. Can I put you in touch with them? And she said.

Yeah, hell, you.

She wanted that kind of service. She wanted that kind of help to help her. Kind of reverse course here. And so we did just that. I put her in touch with Doctor Min and his team. Obviously, due to patient privacy issues, we won't know how that went, but we can only hope that she will be one of the people under this emergency declaration. Now, that gets the help that she needs, because the crisis is so acute.

Yeah. I guess I'm wondering just though, you know, not everybody, not every addict is going to run into such a thoughtful journalist like yourself that could point them in that direction. So what happens if, after the end of this 90 day period, things aren't, you know, demonstrably better for them? Like this problem has been going on for years.

You know, I asked county health officials that specific question, you know, what is happening at the end of this. And what they described is this is really a process, this 90 days, to try to figure out where these resources need to go. And their hope is that this will indeed be sustainable. Of course, one major problem that they will face, the outreach workers will face that I talked to people about their on the streets is what do you do for those who don't want help? And a really interesting a really insightful answer came from a man named Dave Crosby.

Right around, I don't know, 2015 or something like that. I had been using heroin for a really long time. He was formerly addicted.

He was on the streets. He is now an outreach worker with Central City Concern, trying to help people who are currently in the situation he was once in. And he told me that it is difficult when you're dealing with someone who doesn't want help, but sometimes it starts with just a smile.

The the best way I can put this is that's that's someone's daughter, that's someone's son, that's someone's parent.

And and he said that's important for listeners to understand that at the end of the day, we are indeed talking about people. This is about humanity.

People that maybe have never spoken to an outreach worker before. And even, as you can tell with the rain, like being able to give them services, even if it's something as simple as like a tent and a sleeping bag and like meeting them where they're at, right?

He said that people want to be contributing members of society. They want to be good family members. They want to be good employees. But due to the potency of these dangerous drugs, oftentimes all your mind focuses on is how to get that next high.

Yeah. And it's such a multifaceted problem that any kind of advance in one area or another can help you down the road. Josh thank you.

Always a pleasure, David. Thanks.

'One thing is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Paola Ortiz and me, David Rind. Our senior producer is Faiz Jamil. Our supervising producer is Greg Peppers. Matt Dempsey is our production manager. Dan Dzula is our technical director. And Steve Lickteig is the executive producer of CNN Audio. We get support from Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, John Dianora, Leni Steinhart, Jamus Andrest, Nicole Pessaru, and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Elizabeth Joseph, Anna-Maja Rappard,and Katie Hinman. Just a reminder, we love ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts. I haven't seen one in a while, so I need you guys to step up a little bit. We'll be back next week with another episode. Talk to you then.