The Colorado House’s vote on Friday to leave possession of the deadly opioid fentanyl a mere misdemeanor in our state was disgraceful.

As the measure stands, all cops can do is write a ticket for possession of enough hyperlethal fentanyl to kill 500 people. It’s not even a slap on the wrist for someone who in all likelihood is selling but knows he can beat a felony rap because he only has 1 gram on him.

The state’s fentanyl peddlers couldn’t have asked for better cover.

And as amended in a committee earlier the same day, House Bill 1326 backslides from previous, modest progress. Having amended the measure only days before making possession of between 1 and 4 grams a felony – under the pressure of a public outcry – ruling Democrats quietly inserted verbiage Friday that guts even that provision.

By changing the standard for demonstrating intent, the bill now, in the words of Colorado Springs Republican state Rep. Terri Carver, will “make prosecution of felony possession almost impossible.”

Carver had tried in vain to bring the House majority to its senses, offering to amend that provision and a host of other loopholes in the terribly flawed legislation.

The upshot is that the bill makes possession a de facto misdemeanor for 4 grams or less of a drug so poisonous it has been likened to anthrax. In other words, the latest revisions of the bill would walk Colorado back to where it has been since the Democrat-controlled Legislature voted inexplicably in 2019 to decriminalize possession of fentanyl and a host of other hard drugs such as meth and heroin.

Friday’s debate over the bill once again showcased the naivete of apologists for decriminalization. Notably, the imaginary line they have drawn between addicts and pushers. Try as they might, Carver and others in the minority couldn’t get through to the defenders of decriminalization that pushers will make use of whatever slack lawmakers give them.

The legislative majority also turned a deaf ear to something even more fundamental – making possession of fentanyl a felony for any amount, however small, will save lives. An arrested addict – who likely will be diverted into rehab rather than imprisoned – is an alive addict.

One of the bill’s original sponsors, Republican Rep. Mike Lynch of Wellington, made that clear as he joined Carver in attempting unsuccessfully to amend his measure.

“They’d rather have a living, breathing felon child than a dead child,” Lynch said of his conversations with Coloradans who’ve lost kids to fentanyl.

Too bad more lawmakers didn’t heed the wisdom of Carver, Lynch and other advocates of zero tolerance for possession. Like Littleton Republican Rep. Colin Larson, who pointed out that making possession a felony will be “disruptive enough to the supply chain” to make criminal drug syndicates rethink their diabolical business model.

Or Republican Rep. Matt Soper of Delta who pressed for amendment after amendment to crack down on possession because, “One gram is enough to kill everyone in the Colorado House of Representatives.”

And then there was the GOP’s Rep. Rod Bockenfeld of Watkins who’d heard all he could take about how making possession a felony would victimize addicts: “Enough of these stories about, ‘Oh the poor drug user.’ … Drug users (do) not end up in prison.”

Then, almost shouting into the mic, he declared, “We have a crisis on our hands!”

Indeed, we do.

The bill faces a final, roll call vote for the record in the House as early as Monday before moving on to the Senate.

Denver Gazette editorial board