In Summit County, friends and bystanders are now more likely to have the tools to save someone’s life during an opioid overdose.

Law enforcement, public health agencies, schools and nonprofits have rallied around a few key harm-reduction strategies to address drug use. These include wider access to naloxone (a medication that can quickly reverse opioid overdoses), peer outreach programs and regular collaboration between agencies.

Because of these efforts, Summit County is gaining recognition as a model for other rural communities. Its approach reflects broader public health strategies focused on reducing the harms of substance use and keeping people alive long enough to seek treatment.

But while Summit County is moving forward with harm-reduction methods, other parts of Colorado and the country are taking different paths. This year, Colorado lawmakers rejected for the second time a bill that would have allowed cities to create overdose prevention centers, which are medically supervised settings for drug use. Pueblo City Council also recently passed an ordinance banning needle access programs in the city.

Beyond Colorado, several states have rolled back or rejected similar interventions. Nebraska’s Legislature sustained a veto on a bill that would have allowed local governments to authorize needle access programs. Idaho repealed its five-year-old needle exchange program, becoming the first state to reverse such a law. Meanwhile, Oregon reinstated criminal penalties for drug possession after several years of decriminalization.

These changes reflect a growing ideological divide across the country about the most effective ways to address drug use and addiction.

In Summit, however, leaders say it is not ideology driving their strategy; it is what is saving lives.

A key part of that, said Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons, has been expanding access to naloxone (Narcan). He cites 2019 as a turning point, when the county ramped up naloxone distribution through law enforcement, public health partners and nonprofits.

“When I brought naloxone into the community in 2019, people were overdosing all the time. We were responding, we were reviving people, saving lives,” FitzSimons said. “Since then, we’ve been giving out naloxone like candy.”

With naloxone now widely available, he added, many overdoses are reversed by friends or peers before first responders arrive.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Drug Overdose Dashboard, Summit County recorded 19 overdose deaths in 2022, 12 in 2023, and seven in 2024, counting all drug-related deaths among Summit County residents. While every loss is devastating, the steady decline over the past two years suggests that prevention and response strategies are making a measurable difference.

Maggie Seldeen, founder of High Rockies Harm Reduction, agrees that naloxone distribution and other evidence-based strategies have been critical. Still, she stresses that the numbers reflect ongoing, hands-on work rather than a reason to slow down.

“I don’t want to get too tied to the fact that overdoses were down from October 2023 to October 2024. We’ve already seen a lot of overdoses in Colorado in 2025,” Seldeen said. “I just want to emphasize that the overdoses were down because of work like this,” she added, pointing to grassroots harm-reduction initiatives like those led by her organization.

High Rockies Harm Reduction is one of Colorado’s few peer-run harm reduction nonprofits. Its staff and volunteers have personal experience with substance use or supporting loved ones through addiction. Seldeen said the group’s mobile model and peer-to-peer approach help them meet people where they are.

“What we’re doing is unique, because we bring all these services together to meet the needs of rural communities, and we do it in a mobile setting,” she said. “We believe we can provide the most compassionate, nonjudgmental support because we’ve been there, we’ve lived through these struggles.”

The group currently visits Summit County once a month, setting up in places like Breckenridge and Dillon, with plans to expand to weekly outreach by early 2026. On-site, Seldeen and her team distribute free naloxone, fentanyl test strips, sterile syringe disposal, wound care, food and water.

Despite growing support, misconceptions about these services persist, Seldeen said. Many people assume they encourage drug use, but she emphasizes that the opposite is true.

“Telling people not to do things and punishing them is extremely ineffective. This gentle, client-centered approach, saying ‘we love you and support you no matter how you’re showing up today,’ actually gives people more reason and motivation to not use.”

For Seldeen, this work is deeply personal. “I lost my mom to a heroin overdose when I was 15. I know firsthand what it’s like when someone doesn’t have the right support,” she said.

She believes overdose prevention should be a shared responsibility.

“I hear people say, ‘I don’t use drugs, so I don’t need Narcan.’ But Narcan is for all of us, to be prepared to respond to an emergency. It can happen anywhere, at a concert, at the library, at work, at school.”

Summit County’s efforts, backed by local partnerships, offer a potential blueprint for other rural areas.

“The public health department, the Sheriff’s Office, the hospitals, the schools … those collaborations are really working in Summit County,” Seldeen said. “Other counties could look to Summit as a model.”

FitzSimons echoed that sentiment, noting that the county’s approach has earned praise from state leaders.

“The governor and the attorney general have both said that Summit County is absolutely a model for how it should be done,” he said.

To build on this progress, FitzSimons says Summit County needs more peer-led programs, especially in jails.

“On the Front Range, there are big, huge peer support programs for substance use that go into the jails. We just don’t have that here because our volunteer base is small.

“I always joke that all the volunteers in Summit County wear five different hats. The bench isn’t deep. When I go to conventions and meet peer support nonprofits, I tell them, ‘Anytime you want to come to Summit County, we’d welcome it.’ We’re kind of an island up here, close enough to Denver, but still too far.”

Seldeen adds that another challenge is ensuring public health messaging reaches those who need it most. Many people, she said, don’t attend events or follow public health channels, yet could benefit from these services. She wants the community to know that these programs have broad medical backing.

“These services are endorsed by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), WHO (World Health Organization), major medical organizations, and by Colorado’s attorney general through opioid abatement funding,” Seldeen said. The funding, she added, is specifically designed to cover treatment, recovery, prevention, law enforcement and harm reduction.

“These programs might feel icky or sound scary, but they’re effective, and we’re seeing them work. I always encourage folks to reach out, because it really just takes educating ourselves a little more on what services are actually saving lives.”