Sens. Pelton, Kirkmeyer weigh in on Colorado drug issues

Despite Colorado continuing to lead the nation in several crime statistics, the 2023 legislative session was fraught with bills that will only exacerbate the problems. And the Democrat majority continues to hesitate to punish drug dealers or take any real stance in protecting Coloradoans from the growing drug issues that creep into our communities.  

In fact, one bill that would have mandated increased punishment for drug dealers who had sold product that led to the death of an individual and had bipartisan support, died in the House Judiciary Committee before legislators could even debate the bill on the floor. 

Senate Bill 23-109 “Criminal Penalty Controlled Substance Supplier” would have made the punishments for those who deal methamphetamine, cocaine, and other drugs commensurable with the punishments for fentanyl dealers. 

Colorado leads the nation in fentanyl overdoses and yet bills such as HB23-1202 would have enabled drug users by allowing communities to open “safe injection” sites. Sounds crazy, right?  These centers would give users sterile needles and fentanyl test strips, and someone would be on site to administer Narcan and other medical help if an overdose occurred.  Thankfully, it died in the Senate, but we have an administration that continues to allocate money to supply Narcan to agencies that in turn offer the overdose reversal drug for free to anyone who may need it via newspaper-style boxes that are popping up all over Colorado. 

So, what we are seeing now is a new era of drug use — microdosing. Addicts will get their free Narcan, take multiple small doses of a drug until they reach the tipping point of overdose, use the Narcan to bring them out of it, and then start over.

The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.