Reading the recent stories on the fentanyl crisis in the state, I’m reminded of a line in an old Neil Young song from the 1970s, which was “I’ve seen the needle and the damage done.” It was about losing a friend to an overdose of heroin and the impact that drug was having on so many people. If he were writing that song today in Colorado, he might have penned, “I witnessed the signing of the bill get done, and then the havoc wreaked on everyone.”

That bill would be House Bill 1263 that was passed in 2019. That measure reduced the penalty for possession of up to 4 grams of fentanyl from a felony to a misdemeanor. The passage of the measure appeared to open the floodgates for dealers as they found that they would only receive a slap on the hand for up to 4 grams of fentanyl that law enforcement equates to 13,000 doses.

How powerful is fentanyl? The drug is 50 times more potent than heroin and according to the National Center for Drug Abuse, fentanyl is the world’s deadliest opioid and is attributed with almost half of the planet’s overdose deaths.

The intentions of those supporting HB 1263 were sincere. They sought to attack the opioid and drug problem in the state in a different manner. They felt a better approach to the problem would be one that placed greater focus on treatment and support and less emphasis on penalties and incarceration.

They had recognized that many within our crowded prison system had been incarcerated on drug charges. There was a sense that many of the drug-related offenses of those incarcerated did not merit prison and that they and society might be better served through treatment and outreach programs. The objectives were laudable, but the results and collateral damage were not.

By the end of 2021, the state saw almost a 400% increase in fentanyl deaths since 2019. The press reported that Colorado had the most rapid rise in fentanyl deaths in the country and now ranked first in fentanyl deaths in the country. Fentanyl-related deaths (709) in 2021 exceeded the number of people who died in Colorado traffic accidents in that year.

Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen summed up well the impact of HB 1263 in an interview in early 2022, by noting that “an effort that was intended to help people, actually resulted in more people dying.”

While supporters of the measure were either unaware or failed to appreciate the potential implications associated with the bill, many in the law enforcement and the emergency response community were not. In fact, many of them testified against the bill. District attorneys from various jurisdictions in the state out of concern for public safety specifically pleaded that fentanyl be excluded from the bill, but those requests fell on deaf ears.

The passage of HB 1263 appeared to open Pandora’s box, releasing a number of ills on our state. Its impacts were not limited to increased overdoses, hospitalizations and deaths from the drug but much more. In the last three years, Coloradans have witnessed crime soar in the state whereby we now rank as number one in car thefts and bank robberies in the country. Many in the law enforcement community note a linkage between those crimes and increased fentanyl addiction. The Common Sense Institute estimated the cost of fentanyl overdoses to our state as being over $11 billion.

While some viewed the increased number of fentanyl overdoses and deaths as an unintended consequence of the legislation, that was little comfort to the many families and friends of those who died. For those people, the death of someone from a fentanyl overdose was not an “unintended consequence” or a mere statistic, but a loved one who will not be with them during the holidays. With fentanyl-related deaths and overdoses rapidly rising, legislators in 2022 sought to push the evil genie back into the bottle.

HB 1326, a bipartisan measure, titled the Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Act was introduced. The measure reduced the threshold for charging a person with a felony for fentanyl to 1 gram. It also provided $30 million in funding for a range of health activities, a campaign oriented at reducing drug abuse, and the purchase of narcan, a drug used for overdose victims, and various other items. It’s too early to tell whether the passage of HB 1326 will help turnaround the downward spiral of fentanyl addiction and deaths in the state. History has shown us it’s more difficult to correct these problems than it was to create them.

Hopefully, the saga of fentanyl decriminalization will serve as a cautionary tale for legislators where supporters push through a measure late in a legislative session that might have far-reaching unintended consequences. Greater analysis and research prior to consideration of a measure of this nature might have prevented this problem. This might have allowed us to avoid some of the painful and sad consequences as well as the additional time and cost to fix the problem.

Greg Fulton, a 40-year Denver resident and veteran observer of politics at the Capitol, is the president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, which represents companies directly involved in, and affiliated with trucking in Colorado.

GREG FULTON