For the second year in a row, a Senate committee at the state Capitol ended the legislative path to allow facilities where people can use illegal drugs under the supervision of medical professionals.

The Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Thursday night voted, 5-4, to postpone House Bill 1028 indefinitely.

The same committee also killed the 2023 version of the bill, albeit on a 6-3 vote. Two of the three Democrats who voted against it in 2023 were the deciding votes to end the 2024 bill, as well: Sens. Kyle Mullica of Northglenn and Joann Ginal of Fort Collins.

Under HB 1028, drug users would have been allowed to bring and use “controlled substances” under the supervision of medical providers at these facilities, which would also provide “life-saving care,” including access to drug paraphernalia, kits to test for fentanyl, counseling and treatment referrals.  

It would have allowed municipalities to authorize these sites within their boundaries.

So far, only the city of Denver has shown an interest in setting what supporters called an “overdose prevention center.” Denver needs approval from the state to start such a facility.

The overdose crisis has spiraled out of control in Colorado in the last few years. Last year alone, Denver witnessed 582 overdose deaths, 129 more than the previous year, according to Denver’s medical examiner data. It’s the worst since the city began keeping overdose records a century ago. 

The bill was intensely debated in its committee hearings and on the House floor earlier this month.

During Thursday’s hearing, Ginal said the bill, which is only one page, lacks the guardrails needed to protect communities. That was a significant part of the amendments offered by House Republicans when the bill was debated earlier this month.

Several amendments sought to ensure those facilities would no be near schools or daycare centers. Democrats, however, rejected amendments seeking a geographic barrier of 2,000 feet or 2,500 feet or allowing residents who live near those centers to have a vote on the issue.

Sen. Kevin Priola, D-Henderson, noted lawmakers come across people who are overdosing in the state Capitol neighborhood. These centers can be found in 17 countries and at 150 sites and they claimed no one has ever died of an overdose in one of these facilities, he noted. He also acknowledged the 2024 version is unchanged from the 2023 bill.

Municipalities and law enforcement opposed the measure, which was backed by several entities in the healthcare arena. The Colorado Freedom Fund, which hired lobbyists to work on it, also supported it. It was sponsored in the House by its executive director, Rep. Elisabeth Epps of Denver.

Dana Steiner, the policy counsel for the Freedom Fund who favored the measure, told the committee the problem of toxic and deadly drug supply cannot be fixed by arresting or treating people out of it. She said new solutions are needed and asked lawmakers to “support infrastructure that meets people where they’re at.”

Chief Adam Turk of the Greeley Police Department, who opposed it, countered: “These controversial facilities are designed to provide a safe environment for individual individuals to consume illegal drugs under supervision.” Turk said there is mounting empirical evidence that these centers pose significant dangers to communities and will not make Greeley — or any community — in Colorado safer.

He also spoke about the boundary issue and the lack of treatment. In some cases, he said, medical and other interventions for methamphetamine and cocaine overdoses require much more medical treatment, which may require federal or state licenses these centers won’t have.

Ginal, in her comments before the vote, pointed to the lack of guardrails in the bill, as well as a lack of data.

“It should work,” she said, but the bill is too ambiguous and is a “minimal amount of legislating” on the issue. She said the bill ought to be comprehensive, rather than a one-page proposal.

“I’m a scientist,” she said. “I look at numbers and data, and I haven’t seen data.”

She pointed out that Oregon recently repealed a measure that decriminalized drug use. In 2020, Oregon passed a measure that handed those found possessing hard drugs a $100 citation or a health assessment. The law became effective in 2021, under which drug offenses may only be punished by a fine — no jail, supervision or any other criminal penalty.

Behind the measure is the belief that a “health-based approach to addiction and overdose is more effective, humane and cost-effective than criminal punishments.” State data later showed that few opted for health assessments and paid the fine. More consequently, overdose deaths skyrocketed in Oregon — from 472 in 2020 to 738 in 2021, the year decriminalization law took effect.

By 2022, the state saw 956 overdose deaths. Last year, Oregon recorded 628 deaths by June, which means 1,250 people are on track to die from overdoses, assuming the trend holds. Oregon’s lawmakers — some of whom recounted having family members who have died of overdoses, have since decided to recriminalize drugs. 

“This is what I struggle with,” Ginal said, noting Oregon’s addiction and overdose rates following that state’s decriminalization experiment. “I didn’t hear any data to confirm that this would work.”