Centennial State News

Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown recently admonished incumbent Gov. Jared Polis for not acknowledging the mother of a person who died from a fentanyl overdose during the gubernatorial debate that took place on Sept. 28.

According to KKTV News, during her opening remarks, Heidi Ganahl, Republican nominee for Governor of Colorado, acknowledged a mom in the audience whose 16-year-old daughter, Hannah, died after being given a Xanax pill at school that was laced with fentanyl. Ganahl challenged Polis to explain to the mother why he signed a law in 2019 reducing the criminal penalty for fentanyl possession. Polis did not acknowledge the mother.

"As @HeidiGanahl predicted, @JaredPolis refuses to address the mom of a fentanyl overdose victim in the audience tonight. He doesn't even acknowledge her. Shameful," Burton Brown wrote in a Sept. 28 Twitter post.

Polis squared off in a debate for the first time at Colorado State University Pueblo on Sept. 28, Colorado Newsline reported. The forum was hosted by the Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, and Sara Blackhurst, Action 22 CEO, acted as moderator. The candidates debated key issues including energy policy, public safety, water rights, and the role of state government. Polis claimed Ganahl has been too critical of Colorado and said the governor should function as the state's "chief marketing officer," while Ganahl called out Polis for "soft on crime" legislation that she sees as contributing to the state's problems with fentanyl and car thefts.

Brown said in another tweet, "Without question, the winner of tonight’s first gubernatorial debate is @HeidiGanahl. The crowd is chanting her name by the end and heckling Polis for his arrogance and clearly deceptive answers."

A summary of the debate published by US News said "red-shirted Ganahl supporters filled up most of the university’s ballroom," while Polis' supporters "kept to their own column of seats."

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." 4th 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 Feb. 2022 report from the nonprofit Families Against Fentanyl. Fentanyl overdose deaths in the state rose from 5 in 2000 to 540 in 2020 to around 800 in 2021.