Adan Carillo-Murillo, 22, was arrested and taken into custody. | https://crimewatch.net/us/co/mesa/sheriff
Adan Carillo-Murillo, 22, was arrested and taken into custody. | https://crimewatch.net/us/co/mesa/sheriff
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has called on her colleagues to take action and get the fentanyl crisis under control after a man was arrested in Colorado with thousands of fentanyl pills in his possession.
Adam Carillo-Murillo, 22, was booked into the Mesa County Detention Facility on charges of Possession with Intent to Distribute, Drug Felony 1, and Special Offender for transporting drugs, Felony 1. According to a Sept. 22 press release from the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, the arrest stemmed from a traffic stop the day prior on I-70 where a Mesa County Sheriff's Deputy found 16 packages containing fentanyl during a search of the vehicle. One of the packages contained the drug in powder form, while the rest had a total of about 90,000 fentanyl pills.
"The opioid crisis in our nation is completely out of control and it is KILLING our children," Boebert wrote in a Sept. 22 tweet. "I've authored legislation to classify Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Let's get that passed ASAP!"
Just three years ago Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) signed HB 19-1263 into law which made possession of up to four grams of fentanyl a misdemeanor offense. It is a law that both law enforcement and other local officials have been vocal against.
"Legislators are on a different planet," Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said during a January press conference, according to KRDO. "They don't see what law enforcement is going through on a day-to-day basis."
4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen told KRDO that even though there's a difference between marijuana and fentanyl, fentanyl "is being treated the same way" as pot and other drugs. He also pointed out that not all of the other drugs have the same effect on users like fentanyl does.
According to KRDO, last year more people died of fentanyl overdoses than overdoses from methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in El Paso County.
In the wake of that pushback, Polis signed HB 22-1326 into law this May, which changed the criminal penalties related to fentanyl back to making it a felony offense to possess more than a gram of the synthetic opiate.
According to the DEA, as little as two milligrams of fentanyl could kill someone depending on the person's body size and drug tolerance.
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