Our state is in the throes of an overdose crisis. It is stoked by a shameful and tragic abundance of lethal opioids and especially, of course, fentanyl — the drug culture’s mass-killer.

In 2022, the latest year for which hard numbers are available, 910 people between 18 and 45 died from fentanyl use in Colorado. According to the Centers for Disease Control, fentanyl has become the leading cause of death nationwide among adults 18 to 45.

Colorado has been in the thick of the epidemic — and we can blame our lawmakers.

Colorado’s “justice reform”-minded Legislature decriminalized possession of fentanyl along with a host of other hard drugs, in 2019. That made it a misdemeanor. The ensuing plague of overdoses was almost a given. While the “harm reduction” crowd cheered the radical and reckless policy shift, survivors of those who perished — particularly parents — mourned.

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In the face of a public outcry over spiraling fentanyl deaths, state lawmakers relented, a bit, a couple of years ago and made possession of a gram or more a felony again.

Today, the Legislature has a more substantial opportunity to repair some of the damage it has done to our laws — and to atone for the devastation that has resulted. The House Judiciary Committee is slated to take up a bill by state Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, that would patch a gaping hole in current law. We strongly urge the legislative panel to approve the bill.

When lawmakers restored felony charges in 2022 for possession of 1 to 4 grams of any substance containing fentanyl, they left possession of under a gram a misdemeanor.

That’s enough to kill 500 people. Lawmakers also allowed defendants charged with felony possession to argue in court they didn’t know they possessed fentanyl. If a court determines the defendant made a reasonable mistake, the offense gets kicked back down to a misdemeanor.

Lynch’s HB24-1306, which is sponsored in the Senate by state Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, eliminates the “really, I didn’t know” defense and, effective July 1, makes possession of any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains “any quantity” of fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate or an analog, a Level 4 drug felony.

Let’s be clear, this is not a sweeping policy change but in fact an effort to hit the reset button. The bill represents an overdue return to sanity — even Oregon is recriminalizing drugs, after all — so law enforcement can tackle the scourge of fentanyl.

Just under a gram of fentanyl not only is sufficient to cause hundreds of overdoses — but it also affords perfect cover for a dealer prowling the streets. He can claim to cops who bust him that it’s for his use — simple possession. Current law makes that a mere misdemeanor no more serious than a traffic ticket. No felony charges for intent to distribute. Never mind that in reality he intends to sell it to others.

It should be needless to say it’s a loophole that needs to be patched.

And yet, the bill has gotten a disappointing reception from some leading Democrats who dominate Colorado’s political establishment.

As reported by Colorado Politics, Attorney General Phil Weiser is inexplicably taking a wait-and-see approach. His office sent Lynch a message that stated in part, “More data and overall impacts are still being evaluated. We would need to hear from groups that the (2022) bill is not working or that the needed tools are truly not there to warrant opening this statute up so soon.”

Fentanyl deaths in fact have continued to surge since that bill passed in spring 2022. How much more data does the attorney general need? How much longer is Colorado supposed to wait before taking action to save lives?

Denver Gazette Editorial Board