More blowback from our state’s soft-on-drugs policies: A new study ranks Colorado first among the states for addiction.

Researchers commissioned by Canada-based online pharmacy Universal Drugstore crunched wide-ranging public-health data on the percentage of illicit drug users, excessive drinkers, vape users and tobacco smokers in each state. Colorado came out overall “as the state with the most people affected by addiction.” That’s even after accounting for our state’s fairly low percentage of conventional cigarette smokers, 13%.

Colorado’s cumulative “addiction score” of 6.95 landed it atop No. 2 Montana’s 6.0, No. 3 Alaska’s 6.8, and Louisiana and Ohio’s 6.75, which tied them for fourth.

The research of course represents only one take on the data and is subject to second opinions by other researchers. So, it isn’t necessarily the last word on how our state compares with others.

The troubling finding also doesn’t come as much of a surprise, however, given Colorado’s proliferating drug culture – aided and abetted by “justice reform” and “harm reduction” advocates in our legislature. The survey ranking in fact serves as a potent reminder of the consequences of policymakers going soft on hard drugs like fentanyl, meth and heroin as state lawmakers have over the past few years.

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And that quest to coddle, rather than cure, addiction came amid the rippling, unintended consequences of legalizing recreational marijuana over a decade ago.

It used to be that visitors and newcomers to our state got high on the thin air, especially above tree line in the high country. Now, they don’t even have to make it past the first pot shop or pill peddler they encounter.

“Colorado has the highest rate of vaping addiction in the US, with 7.5% of residents being addicted. It also ranked fifth for illicit drug use, with more than a fifth of the population affected. It ranked joint-twelfth for excessive drinking and tied for 38th for smoking rates,” the survey concluded.

To be sure, Coloradans’ susceptibility to substance abuse isn’t unique to the Centennial State, and it isn’t entirely the doing of misguided policy. But given other factors – perhaps socio-economic, cultural or demographic – that also influence addiction, the last thing our elected policymakers should be doing is to foster more of it.

Colorado ranks fifth among all the states for illicit drug use – with over 21% of its population abusing drugs. So, let’s not kid ourselves about the impact of “justice reform”-minded legislation that gutted enforcement of assorted offenses involving sales and possession of hard drugs. That’s especially true of lawmakers’ outrageous decision in 2019 to decriminalize possession of even the most notorious hard drugs, including meth and fentanyl, that have devastated so many lives.

Fentanyl alone – in its lethal, bootleg varieties available on the streets – claimed 920 Colorado lives last year. Some 120 were 15 to 24 years old, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Public outcry forced the legislature to walk back its lapse of judgment, but only a little bit and only for fentanyl. It’s still only a ticketing offense – seriously – if a cop stumbles across someone openly using meth or heroin, so long as its under the possession limit.

Obviously, state law needs to be tightened to restore the force of law in guiding addicts toward urgently needed rehab.

There’s no compassion in tolerating rampant addiction. And there’s no pride in Colorado serving as a Mecca for it.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board