According to the Oregon Health Authority, an average of five people in Oregon die each week from opioid overdoses. And in just a one-year period, from October 2020 to October 2021, drug overdoses in Oregon increased by more than 40 percent. Driving this surge is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times more powerful than heroin. Criminal drug networks are mass producing counterfeit pills made to resemble oxycodone and other prescription painkillers that contain potentially lethal amounts of fentanyl, according to law enforcement. Joining us is Todd Korthuis, a professor of medicine and public health and the chief of addiction medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, who says fentanyl is fueling a public health crisis in the state.