The Portland metro is in the midst of an ongoing gun violence crisis – and homicides are already on pace to eclipse last year’s record in the city.

But there’s another crisis that claimed more lives in Portland and Multnomah county last year that doesn’t get as much attention: fentanyl overdoses.

On the latest episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, we talk with Maxine Bernstein.

We talked about her recent deep dive into fentanyl, what fentanyl is, where it comes from, the two Northeast Portland teens who died and what their parents have to say, and how social media – as with any other part of our society – is playing a major role. [A note: May 10th is National Fentanyl Awareness Day]

Related reading:

Merchants of death

Violence follows fentanyl trade

'They poisoned my baby'

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