6 Centennial Citizen
July 28, 2022
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In 2021, Arapahoe County reported 101 fentanyl-specific overdoses, which make up 56% of all reported overdoses that year. That number is a sharp increase from 2020 when there were 69 fentanyl overdoses, accounting for nearly 47% of all overdose deaths, though fentanyl was still the leading drug for overdoses that year. Douglas County saw its biggest spike in fentanyl overdoses in 2020, with nine fentanyl overdose deaths that accounted for 18% of all overdoses that year. Numbers in 2021 were similar with seven fentanyl overdoses, making up 16% of overdoses. It’s left law enforcement and harm reduction advocates at odds over how best to respond to a mounting crisis that took the lives of more than 900 Coloradans last year. And the state’s new law, the Fentanyl Accountability And Prevention Act — which went into effect July 1 — is set to once again test the theories of criminalization versus risk mitigation for drug users. A growing emergency For area police, the crisis is daily. “I would say that fentanyl overdoses have exploded,” Englewood Police Sgt. Brian Cousineau said. “If not daily, every other day we’re dealing with something related to an overdose.” A synthetic opioid, fentanyl is said to be 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin or morphine, according to the CDC, with a potentially lethal dose being about 2 to 3 milligrams. Part of what has made the substance such a threat is its presence in nearly every opioid available on the black market. “It’s everywhere,” said Cousineau, who said fentanyl is frequently found in “blues,” slang for drugs such as Valium and Xanax, which are typically used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and seizures. But fentanyl has also made its way into heroin, meth, cocaine and MDMA — more commonly known as molly. Since fentanyl’s presence has cast such a wide net — from black market prescription drugs to popular recreational substances — and because of how cheap it is to mass produce, law enforcement is seeing the drug threaten a spectrum of people who are young and old, regular and irregular users. Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said a majority of overdoses police are responding to involve fentanyl mixed with another drug, such as cocaine. “Douglas County is an uppermiddle-class community and we’re seeing it in that community, finding people in their homes,” Spurlock said. “It’s not the image people conjure up when you think of a drug abuser.” Data provided in April show narcotics and drug violations were up 28% over last year in Douglas County, Spurlock said. District Attorney John Kellner, who heads the 18th Judicial Dis-
GRAPHIC BY MCKENNA HARFORD
trict based in Arapahoe County, said the time is now to impose harsher punishments on dealers of fentanyl — and other potential fentanyl-carrying drugs — in a bid to curb overdoses. “Our approach is to go after the dealers and suppliers and hold them accountable,” Kellner said, adding that his office is pursuing “significant prison sentences” for producers and sellers of the drug. Kellner recently touted what his office called a large-scale drug bust in May that led to the seizure of 200,000 fentanyl pills along with 9.4 pounds of heroin, a kilogram of cocaine and four guns. It also resulted in the indictment of eight people believed to be involved with drug trafficking, Kellner said. That announcement was joined by one from Brian Besser, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Denver Field Division, who said his office had aided in the “largest fentanyl seizure on any U.S. highway,” when state patrol officers found 114 pounds of fentanyl powder in the back of a vehicle on Interstate 70 traveling toward Denver. But the seizure, which took place in June, failed to produce law enforcement with its greater goal: the suppliers. After initially agreeing to lead DEA agents to supposed kingpins in South Bend, Indiana, the driver evaded authorities and escaped, a detail Besser did not mention during a July 6 press conference detailing the bust. It only came to light after a story from the Denver Gazette, which obtained the driver’s arrest warrant. The vast majority of prosecution has instead fallen on low-level dealers and users. Need for harm reduction The criminalization of fentanyl, and all drugs, has only led to worse overdose outcomes, said Lisa Raville, executive director for the Harm Reduction Action
‘Douglas County is an upper-middle-class community and we’re seeing it in that community, finding people in their homes. It’s not the image people conjure up when you think of a drug abuser.’ Tony Spurlock, Douglas County sheriff
Center. “We’ve never been able to arrest our way out of drug use … all it’s done is put us in the overdose crisis that we’re in as well as led to unsafe drug supplies,” Raville said. The action center, based in Denver, works with drug users to reduce their overdose chances and make drug use safer. The nonprofit organization’s multi-pronged approach includes providing clean syringes for safe injection, supplying users with drug and HIV testing, getting users access to life-saving naloxone and engaging in community outreach and education. The center sees about 75 to 125 people per day, according to Raville, with about 12,000 people who’ve signed up for its services over the past 10 years. A staunch supporter for harm reduction policies and practices, Raville said she is discouraged with the direction law enforcement has taken toward fentanyl, which she feels has been spurred by the state’s new law. “We feel that the messaging in law enforcement has actually gone backward,” Raville said. Along with more emphasis on law enforcement-led investigations into opioid use and deaths, the
law will also require emergency medical providers, coroners and law enforcement officials to participate in a state wide program to map overdose deaths. Raville fears this could dissuade more people from calling 911 for help with an overdose as it will likely attract more police attention. “We can’t count on the fact that law enforcement won’t come,” Raville said. But perhaps the most consequential decision by Colorado lawmakers was to drop the amount needed to charge a felony for fentanyl from 4 grams to 1. That’s the equivalent of about 10 pills, according to Englewood Sgt. Cousineau. Raville said the law now puts many of her clients at major legal risk as most carry between five and 20 pills on them at a time. Instead of pursuing criminal charges, Raville said the key to combating the fentanyl crisis is providing more resources to drug users, from testing to a safe supply of drugs. In an effort to build more resources for addiction in Douglas County, Racquel Garcia founded Hard Beauty, a peer recovery group that started virtually SEE FENTANYL, P7
