Tomorrow is too late to act on Colorado’s soaring fentanyl crisis. People are dying every day. Do something and do it now.

On the day a leading drug-abuse physician told horror stories about the influx of illicit fentanyl into our state, in a Gazette Perspective Q&A Sunday, the type of horror he described occurred in Commerce City.

Five young people, who each thought they were using cocaine, died instantly because the drug was laced with fentanyl – almost certainly unbeknownst to them.

There was no time for a rescue with Narcan. Dead are three women ages 28, 29 and 32, and two men ages 32 and 24. What killed them should be classified as a poison and a potential chemical weapon capable of causing mass casualties if aerosolized or injected into beverages, a water cooler, food or any number of illicit recreational drugs.

The Gazette has warned about this poison for months, explaining how China manufactures and transports it across our southern border in partnership with Mexican drug cartels. We’ve spoken with law enforcement across Colorado who say their hands are tied by state law.

The Legislature voted in 2019 to decriminalize up to 4 grams of Schedule 1 and 2 narcotics – including fentanyl – meaning possession carries a ticket and a misdemeanor charge.

Four grams of fentanyl is enough to kill thousands of people. Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law and recently told The Gazette he was unaware of fentanyl’s dangers at the time.

No one can remain oblivious to the crisis, which kills Coloradans at a higher rate than COVID. Unless stopped immediately, we will all soon know a friend, neighbor, relative or colleague who lies dead because of fentanyl ingestion.

We’ve begged Polis for a solution, and he promises to sign legislation written to reduce the crisis. No bill has hit his desk so maybe it is time he cattle-prod his party leaders to get serious.

Nearly six weeks into the session, and we’ve seen no urgency in dealing with the daily deaths caused in large part by the idiotic decriminalization in 2019. We need to wage war on this killer, not play footsie while talking about more criminal justice reform.

Legislators, please accept this simple advice. Sunday’s tragedy – warned of repeatedly this session by physicians and law enforcement – will happen again and again.

Beginning today, drop everything – drop debate on other bills – and get an emergency fentanyl bill to Polis that allows law enforcement to use every legal means to keep this killer off the streets.

Fentanyl poses an obvious death sentence to people who unknowingly use it, so the penalty for possession or distribution of any amount should be a top-level felony. We’re not talking about unsuspecting users, who often get an overdose death penalty before anyone can ticket them. We’re talking about people possessing deadly amounts in baggies or pills, which is anything more than about 2 milligrams.

Fix the state law, then get our federal government to keep this substance from crossing the border.

Five young Coloradans did not deserve instant deaths at a party Sunday for making the poor choice of using cocaine. No family is safe from a similar tragedy, no matter how well they bring up their children. This might be the greatest public health crisis our state and country face, and there is no more time to waste in stopping it.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board