DENVER — A draft bill that seeks to address Colorado's fentanyl crisis received a chorus of praise from state officials Wednesday, with the governor saying he's pleased to see increased criminal penalties and a top lawmaker noting its comprehensive approach to confronting the deadly drug.
But others aren't buying the proposal, with some worrying the increase in penalties would inhibit calls for help, resulting in more overdoses and deaths, and others arguing the draft bill would offer immunity to those who don't deserve it.
The fentanyl legislation comes amid heightened attention to the drug's increasingly deadly impact in Colorado. Fatal overdoses involving the drug have skyrocketed since 2015, the product of shifting economics and priorities within the illicit drug trade and accelerated by the pandemic. More than 800 Coloradans died after ingesting fentanyl in 2021, according to state data. That represents a roughly 50% increase from 2020 and more than triple the number of deaths from 2019.
>Video below: Polis discusses legislation targeting fentanyl dealers on Thursday, March 24.
In an interview with Colorado Politics, Gov. Jared Polis pointed to the increased availability of testing strips and kits to law enforcement under the proposal. That, he said, means rather than tracing a trail of dead bodies to hold someone responsible for distribution, "you'll be able to detect earlier in the process," and law enforcement will be able to investigate and find patterns.
This will be a tool in the field – not in the lab – that will allow faster tracking back to the drug's source, said Polis, who called for increasing the penalty for peddling fentanyl during his State of the State address before the Colorado General Assembly in January.
>9NEWS readers can view the full article at Colorado Politics.