Look up fentanyl, and you’ll learn it’s a narcotic drug – a synthetic opioid. It’s in the same broad category as historically abused and frequently deadly drugs like heroin. You might also learn the number of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Colorado skyrocketed more than 50% from 2019 to 2020 and continues to surge.

As The Gazette recently reported, preliminary figures show fentanyl has been involved in more overdose deaths in 2021 than in any previous year – outpacing the combined totals from 2015 to 2019.

But to fully grasp the devastating and unprecedented impact fentanyl is having on Colorado and especially its young people, it helps to talk to an expert. The Gazette editorial board spent an hour last week with Dr. Vikhyat Bebarta, an emergency physician, medical toxicologist, award-winning military doc and professor of pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

What the doctor told us about the epidemic of fentanyl overdoses in our state – as well as the drug’s potential for even wider destruction – was deeply disturbing. You can read the full Q&A in today’s Perspective. It is an enlightening and profoundly sobering interview.

Among the eye-opening takeaways:

The version of fentanyl that is decimating Coloradans – mass produced in China, packaged in Mexico and distributed in the U.S., mostly in tablet form – has little connection to the supply chain for the drug’s legitimate use in medical procedures. And the bootleg variety has none of the oversight. So, anyone popping a fentanyl pill offered by a friend at school or a party has no idea what dose he is getting of the hyperlethal drug. Just 2 milligrams can kill you – that’s right, a mere two-thousandths of a gram.

Absent quality control or regulation, fentanyl winds up in a host of other illegal drugs – and the user, perhaps even the dealer, won’t know it. Said Bebarta: “They’re told it is Xanax, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, Tylenol 3 or maybe even methamphetamine, ecstasy or cocaine – and it happens to have a lot of fentanyl, and they stop breathing.”

It is so concentrated that a minuscule amount could be used in mass killings. Specific scenarios are numerous and almost too terrifying to ponder.

Three years ago, lawmakers at the Capitol downgraded possession of fentanyl and other Schedule I and Schedule II controlled substances from a felony to a misdemeanor. As a result, possession of up to 4 grams of fentanyl – enough to kill thousands – now warrants no more than a ticket from police.

The decriminalization was touted as a stride for “justice reform.” It was, in fact, a free pass for career drug dealers. It also was a slap in the face to every parent who received a knock on their door informing them about the fate of their child who had died of an overdose.

This legislative session, lawmakers have a chance to rectify their lapse in judgment. They should set aside every other priority long enough to pass an emergency measure rescinding the HB19-1263.

Gov. Jared Polis recently reiterated for us that he will support reversing the decriminalization of fentanyl. It’s now up to lawmakers to send him that bill. That’s something all members of both parties, for once, should be able to agree on.

Denver Gazette editorial board