Critics want fentanyl to be removed from 4 gram law - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

A recent law that makes the possession of 4 grams or less of a “controlled substance listed in schedule I or II, a level 1 drug misdemeanor,” rather than a felony, is drawing criticism amid national conversations about fentanyl deaths.

HB19-1263, which went into effect in 2019, was a way of addressing the overcrowding effect in the state’s jails by switching minor drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

The average cost per inmate in Colorado was $39,303 as of 2015. As incarceration rates climbed, many being substance- related, some people felt that HB19-1263 would help to curb those growing incarceration numbers.

However, the bill has been subject to criticism, particularly because it includes the drug fentanyl. That means fentanyl usage is prosecuted far less severely if it weighs less than 4 grams, even though it’s considered incredibly potent compared to other drugs.

Andrea Thomas, one of the founders of the nonprofit Voices for Awareness, has been a critic of the bill.

Thomas lost her daughter, Ashley, to an illicit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl on June 11, 2018.

“Lawmakers need to revisit the 4-gram law. Four grams is a distributor amount, not a personal use amount. Fentanyl is all street drugs today. It makes the other drugs listed in this law almost obsolete compared to fentanyl,” Thomas said

The drug’s potency is why Thomas feels that fentanyl needs to be removed from the law.

“Fentanyl is not like any drug we have seen before. There is no time to choose recovery in most cases. Fentanyl is highly addictive and is killing users,” she said. “We need to consider this when looking at the 4-gram law.

“Most offenders are charged as a misdemeanor. It is like a get-out-of- jail-free card. We need to make distributors accountable for their actions. Lawmakers can see this now, and we need to address this problem now. It is better to admit the mistake and move forward in an effort to save lives,” she said.

Since 2015, fentanyl deaths have risen upwards of 1,000%. Thomas attributes a part of this to the passing of HB19-1263.

“It can kill a lot of people. We knew that when the law was enacted. Nothing was different then, except that now we have lost many more lives to this poison fentanyl,” she said. “It takes very little of this drug to kill someone. They’ve got to, at a minimum, pull fentanyl from this law.”

Heather Young is another Grand Junction mother who lost her daughter to a fentanyl overdose.

Young expressed similar concern regarding the law, explaining that people don’t know how many grams of fentanyl is in street drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine, for example.

When other drugs are laced with fentanyl, the potential for fatal overdoses increases greatly.

Young said she’s not fundamentally against the 4-gram law, but because of fentanyl’s potency, it should not be part of that law.

“I don’t hate addicts. I feel heroin and other drug addictions should be treated and not prosecuted,” she said. “I believe we need more programs than (Alcoholics Anonymous) or (Narcotics Anonymous). I feel we have not developed programs that help. Most addicts do not like fentanyl. It is just so deadly,” Young said.

Now that Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has expressed interest in modifying the bill, Thomas, Young and others like them are hopeful that a modification to the law would lead to a decrease in fentanyl-related deaths amid a worsening opioid crisis in the nation.

“I’m happy that at least lawmakers are realizing they made a mistake. They’re addressing it. It is good that lawmakers are revisiting these laws; they realized they made a mistake, we have to address the crime that is in our state. We’ve had people dying here for a long time,” Thomas said.

source: https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/critics-want-fentanyl-to-be-removed-from-4-gram-law/article_6766447a-9a81-11ec-b8a5-1b71daa92854.html

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