GUEST COLUMN: We must address the drug epidemic
Colorado has reached a crisis point concerning fentanyl. Governor Jared Polis and the Democrat led legislature passed up a chance to do something meaningful about it, and that means more Coloradans will needlessly die. We need to treat this poison like the weapon of mass destruction it is. We need to restore law and order and get rid of the soft-on-crime policies fueling this drug epidemic and the rising crime rates across our beautiful state.
The fentanyl crisis may not have come knocking on your door just yet, but it very likely will. Colorado has the second highest number of fentanyl deaths in the country. That number has skyrocketed in the last three years to more than 1,300 deaths. Colorado’s fentanyl death rate is rising faster than the national average. Sadly, there is just one state seeing more fentanyl deaths than Colorado.
Fentanyl is like no other drug we have seen take hold of our nation. It is 50 times more potent than heroin. Just one pill can kill. In fact, DEA testing shows 4 out of every 10 pills laced with fentanyl contain a lethal dose.
The stories of fentanyl-related deaths are heart wrenching. Stories of children, teens and young adults often unknowingly dying from pills laced with fentanyl.
Stories like 24-year-old Braden who was killed by a fentanyl pill he took to fight his insomnia. He thought it was a pain killer. Or Madeline, a senior at the University of Colorado who was killed by a pill another student gave to her to fight anxiety. Madeline thought it was Xanax.
Those stories were just a couple of those told at a Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day at our state Capitol this past weekend. Madeline’s story is very similar to that of another one we have been told by the mother of 16-year-old Hannah. Hannah was also killed by what she thought was a Xanax pill. Her friend had given her the deadly pill.
No part of Colorado is immune. Earlier this month, El Paso County held a round table about how bad it has gotten in this area of Colorado. In 2016 there were four accidental fentanyl overdose deaths. Last year, there were 102 accidental deaths. Tragically, one of those killed was a 1-year-old child.
It’s time we take this crisis head on. We must go after the drug dealers and hold them accountable. First, we must end Colorado’s status as a sanctuary state.
Fentanyl is flowing over the southern border and right into Colorado. You may remember that in June, Colorado State patrol officers made the largest fentanyl seizure ever on a U.S. Highway, when they found 114 pounds of fentanyl in a vehicle traveling on I-70 heading to Denver.
In fact, Colorado law enforcers have already seized more illicit fentanyl in the first five months of 2022 than they did in all of 2021.
Second, we must correct the misguided law passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor. In 2019, Governor Jared Polis signed a law that reduced the possession of 4 grams or less of almost all illicit drugs, including fentanyl, from a felony to a misdemeanor.
To put that in perspective for you, a sugar packet filled with about 4,000 mg of fentanyl could kill more than 1,300 people. Outrage over that law fueled a press conference ahead of this last legislative assembly, where Attorney General Phil Weiser promised Democrats would address this issue head on.
That did not happen. Jared Polis caved to legislative Democrats and signed another failed fentanyl law. This new law makes possessing one gram of fentanyl a misdemeanor and it requires prosecutors to prove drug dealers knew their pills were laced with fentanyl. Possessing ANY amount of fentanyl should be a felony. Virtually everyone in law enforcement opposed this latest fentanyl bill.
This all points to a larger problem that our state has with soft on crime policies that have made Colorado worse than all but three states when it comes to crime rates. No, Colorado’s rapidly rising crime rates are not just a product of the pandemic. The entire country dealt with the effects of Covid. Colorado’s crime rates are the product of bad public policy.
Policies that were cheered on by Polis and given the force of law by the stroke of his pen. These bad policies have fueled the fentanyl crisis in our state. The Polis administration has a schizophrenic drug policy. It lacks consistency and does not protect our communities. We must act now to restore confidence that our government takes this drug crisis seriously and will protect our citizens.
Heidi Ganahl is a Republican candidate for governor of Colorado. She was elected in 2016 as an at-large member on the University of Colorado Board of Regents. John Suthers serves as the mayor of Colorado Springs. He previously served as the Attorney General of Colorado, U.S. Attorney for Colorado, and Fourth Judicial District Attorney.
Heidi Ganahi
More than 170,000 fentanyl pills were seized in a drug task force sting in Aurora.