By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice
[UPDATED – July 3, 2025]: This story has been updated to include comments from Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly on Colorado’s fentanyl laws and enforcement challenges.
Each Colorado taxpayer carries the burden of the fentanyl crisis, and in 2024, that amounted to about $2,220 per resident. A June report from the Common Sense Institute estimated the total cost for Colorado at $13.1 billion. This financial burden becomes reality in emergency healthcare services, preventative programs and lost productivity.
But there’s also the deep emotional toll on families shattered by addiction and loss.
Despite rising pressure to prevent overdose deaths and target traffickers, a 2024 bill to increase penalties for fentanyl possession and distribution stalled at the Capitol.
The synthetic opioid is often cut into cocaine or fake pills, catching users off guard—many don’t know they’ve taken it until it’s too late.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment notes that 73.8% of overdose victims are between 25–54 years old, and are often workers or parents ensnared by addiction or misled by seemingly safe substances.
In Larimer County, a family shared their grief with CBS News Colorado after their 15-year-old son died in 2022 from a fentanyl-laced pill sold by dealer Samuel Strait, sentenced to 25 years in 2024 under the “distribution of fentanyl resulting in death” law. The family’s pain, laid bare through ICU videos at sentencing, illustrates the human toll.
Meanwhile, Coloradans shouldered $17 billion in opioid-related costs in 2024, with fentanyl driving 77%, covering emergency services, hospitalizations, and economic losses from a reduced workforce.
Law enforcement continues an uphill battle to curb supply chains driven by transnational cartels.
The DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division seized 2.7 million fentanyl pills in 2024, while a 2025 Colorado Bureau of Investigation operation in Adams County confiscated 800,000 pills tied to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Denver Police Department’s (DPD) Fentanyl Investigations Unit has been instrumental, apprehending six individuals in 2024 for distributing fentanyl linked to fatal overdoses, with two recent convictions. The department highlights hurdles like the drastic drop in fentanyl pill prices going from $20 in 2020 to under $1 in some Denver areas, and intricate trafficking networks.
DPD observes that most users are aware of fentanyl consumption since it rarely gets added to cocaine. The organization maintains its commitment to strict enforcement while building federal partnerships and implementing harm reduction strategies through naloxone vending machines and overdose-reversal kits for vulnerable communities.
Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly demands more severe laws to combat trafficking because he believes “Fentanyl’s tragic toll demands that we hold dealers fully accountable for the destruction they cause.” He notes that Colorado has strong laws with severe penalties but courts do not enforce them uniformly even when the cases warrant maximum punishment.
The 2022 Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Act (HB22-1326) introduced new penalties for fentanyl possession between 1-4 grams while providing $29 million for naloxone distribution and test strip and treatment programs.
The number of fentanyl-related deaths decreased by 32.4% from 1,184 in 2023 to 801 by November 2024, per the CDC’s SUDORS Dashboard.
In Boulder County, the Clinica Family Health & Wellness You-CAN Campaign distributed 3,448 naloxone kits and 1,700 test strips in 2024, cutting deaths by 30% from 38 to 27. Yet, the City of Boulder faced a 37% overdose surge in early 2025, possibly due to a tainted strain or new fentanyl variant, per Chief Stephen F. Redfearn.
The Common Sense Institute argues that prior leniency under HB19-1263, which treated small drug amounts as misdemeanors, undermined deterrence, enabling smugglers to exploit softer penalties.
The failed HB24-1306, sponsored by Rep. Mike Lynch and Sen. Byron Pelton, proposed making possession of any amount of fentanyl a Level 4 drug felony and imposing stricter distribution penalties, up to 32 years. Removing the ‘reasonable mistake of fact’ defense was intended to deter possession, curb demand and disrupt trafficking networks responsible for 67.7% of 2023 overdose deaths, according to the CDC.
El Paso County Sheriff Joe Roybal, backing a similar 2025 bill, argued that tougher laws would target cartels exploiting vulnerable users, like the Larimer County teen whose death shattered his family. Such measures could have alleviated the $13.1 billion economic strain by shrinking the supply chain and preventing tragedies like Boulder’s five overdoses in 36 hours in April 2025.
The bill stalled in the House Judiciary Committee over fears it would over-penalize users, many unaware of fentanyl’s presence, and its $42.7 million five-year prison cost, redirecting funds from prevention. Critics, including the Harm Reduction Action Center, prioritized treatment, warning felony charges could deter help-seeking among the 25–54 age group.
The Common Sense Institute calls for robust penalties for dealers, vigilant monitoring of new synthetic drugs like those fueling Boulder’s 2025 spike, and strengthened public health strategies. It endorses education campaigns, such as Aurora’s school initiatives, and enhanced law enforcement training.
DPD emphasizes sustained enforcement, federal partnerships, and harm reduction efforts like naloxone vending machines and leave-behind kits to further curb overdoses.
The $13.1 billion crisis strikes at Colorado’s heart with parents grieving lost children and communities torn apart.
Legislative inaction on HB24-1306 underscores the need for policies that rigorously punish dealers while supporting users, easing the public’s financial load and sparing families from loss.
For overdose prevention and addiction treatment, visit Clinica Family Health & Wellness You-CAN Campaign, Colorado Crisis Services, and the National 988 Lifeline.