Centennial State News

Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl recently criticized Gov. Jared Polis, pointing to what she sees as his failure to bring Colorado's fentanyl crisis under control.

According to Denver City Wire, Ganahl wrote in an Aug. 28 Facebook post, "Colorado has reached a crisis point concerning fentanyl. Gov. 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."

In 2019, Polis signed HB 19-1263 into law, making possession of up to 4 grams of fentanyl a misdemeanor.

According to KRDO News, law enforcement officers and local officials spoke out against the bill, with Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers saying at a news conference in January of this year, "Legislators are on a different planet. They don't see what law enforcement is going through on a day-to-day basis." 

Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said in an interview, "Marijuana is not the same thing as fentanyl, but yet fentanyl is being treated the same way as marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, all these different drugs – and not all of them have the same effect on people as fentanyl does." 

In 2021 in El Paso County, fentanyl led to more overdose deaths than methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

In the wake of that pushback, Polis signed HB 22-1326 into law in May, changing the criminal penalties related to fentanyl once again to make possession of more than one gram of the synthetic opiate a felony.

Colorado experienced the second highest increase in fentanyl deaths in the country between 2019 and 2021, Axios Denver reported, citing a February 2022 report from the nonprofit Families Against Fentanyl. Fentanyl overdose deaths in the state rose from five in 2000 to 540 in 2020 to around 800 in 2021.

Dr. Kennon Heard, a toxicology specialist, said that out of all the overdoses he treats, fentanyl is the most common drug involved, PBS reported. 

“This is going to be on par with seeing a stroke or a heart attack. It’s that common of an event," Heard said. He noted that fentanyl affects both people with substance abuse disorders, as well as people who are occasional users of other drugs and are unaware they have taken fentanyl.

Ganahl defeated Greg Lopez in the Republican primary in June and will face off against incumbent Polis (D) in the November general election, according to Ballotpedia.

Polis did not respond to a request for comment.