A spike in drug overdose deaths continues in Portland, with five occurring in the first ten days of November.

Portland Police Lt. Robert Martin said Tuesday that overdoses took the lives of four men and one woman, ranging in age from 28 to 56 years old. During that same time period, police responded to seven overdose calls and used Narcan, an overdose-reversing antidote, in most of those incidents.

Police have also made a handful of drug arrests in recent days.

Martin says police are also concerned about the public health hazard posed by used hypodermic needles being left in public areas. He says they found more than 1,000 needles left in and out of sharps containers on public property. There are 20 community accessible sharps contained located throughout the city.