Supporters of a 2026 statewide measure that would increase penalties for dealing and possessing the opioid fentanyl in Colorado turned in about 200,000 voter signatures Thursday to make next year’s ballot.
Republican state lawmakers, several Colorado law enforcement officials and family members of overdose victims announced the results of their signature-gathering campaign during a news conference outside the Ralph Carr Judicial Center in Denver, across the street from the state Capitol.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at kunc.org.
“In November of next year, there’s going to be a ballot measure that does something that we should have done years ago, and that is to have a low to no tolerance policy when it comes to drug dealers who peddle fentanyl into our communities,” said George Brauchler, district attorney for Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties.
Currently, a person commits a felony in Colorado if they possess more than four grams of fentanyl.
The measure, if it makes it onto the ballot and is approved by voters, would make it a felony to possess any amount of the powerful opioid, and carry a mandatory prison sentence of eight to 32 years for those convicted of having the drug with the intention of selling or distributing it.
The measure would allow some low-level offenders to go to court-ordered treatment instead of jail.
The conservative political nonprofit Advance Colorado is behind the initiative.
Fentanyl is responsible for hundreds of overdose deaths in Colorado every year, more than any other street drug, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Colorado elected officials across the political spectrum agree the proliferation of the substance is a public health crisis, but they disagree on how to address it.
Republicans, along with some moderate Democrats, support more severe legal punishments for distribution and possession as a way to curb fentanyl’s spread and prevent deadly overdoses.
At Thursday’s news conference, supporters of the measure blamed Colorado Democrats for not doing more to crack down on the drug. They complained that the legislature’s Democratic majority has repeatedly blocked Republican-led bills in recent years that would have increased penalties around fentanyl in similar ways to the proposed initiative.
“This ballot measure will make up for what the legislature, what the attorney general and what this governor can’t get done and won’t do,” said Republican Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton, who is also running for governor.
Most Democrats, especially the party’s progressive members, argue a tough-on-crime approach criminalizes people suffering from addiction much more than it punishes those responsible for distributing dangerous drugs.
“This is going to result in people who are sick, people who have addiction, spending time in prison when they should have access to treatment,” said Democratic state Rep. Javier Mabrey of Denver. “We should address a public health crisis with treatment.”
Mabrey and other progressives have supported measures over the last several years to lessen legal charges for people caught possessing fentanyl and to expand treatment options for Coloradans struggling with addiction.
The ballot measure would offer court-mandated treatment for some low-level offenders, but substance use and criminal justice reform advocates are concerned that it doesn’t create any new funding for treatment providers.
Dr. Josh Barocas leads a team at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine focused on improving health outcomes for patients with substance use disorders. He was responsible for studying the impacts of a 2022 state law that increased penalties for fentanyl use.
“This law did not have an impact, in a positive way, on overdose deaths,” Barocas said. “Coloradans do not want to see increased criminal penalties for substance use disorders, and that’s essentially what this [ballot measure] is doing.”
According to Advance Colorado president Michael Fields, the organization submitted about 200,000 voter signatures supporting the proposed measure to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday.
Citizen-initiated ballot initiatives require roughly 125,000 valid signatures to make the ballot.
The Secretary of State’s office will review and verify the signatures, and if it determines there are enough valid ones, the initiative will be placed on the ballot.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.