A proposed measure that would increase penalties for fentanyl manufacturing, distribution and possession has collected enough signatures to qualify for the 2026 ballot, following several failed attempts by the state legislature to pass similar legislation.

Backed by Advance Colorado, the ballot initiative would make the sale of any amount of fentanyl a Class 1 felony, punishable by up to 32 years in prison. It would also mandate court-ordered substance use treatment for individuals convicted of possession of up to 1 gram of fentanyl.

On Thursday, family members who lost loved ones to fentanyl overdoses joined legislators and law enforcement officers at Denver’s Ralph Carr Courthouse to announce that the initiative had gathered more than 200,000 signatures, about 70,000 more than the number of valid signatures required by the Secretary of State.

“Fentanyl is a poison like nothing I’ve seen in my 30-plus years in the criminal justice system,” said District Attorney George Brauchler, who represents the 23rd Judicial District, which includes Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. “I’ve seen enough to know we can no longer trust the legislature to do the right thing when it comes to protecting us from fentanyl.”

Fentanyl possession and distribution penalties have long been a contentious issue among lawmakers, stemming from a 2019 law that reduced penalties for possession of up to 4 grams of the drug from a felony to a misdemeanor.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, fatal fentanyl overdoses more than quadrupled from 2019 to 2022. In response to the rising number of overdose deaths, the Colorado General Assembly passed the Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Act in 2022, which reclassified possession of 1 to 4 grams of fentanyl as a Level 4 drug felony. Possession of less than 1 gram of fentanyl remains a misdemeanor.

The state’s data shows fentanyl overdose deaths peaked in 2023, with nearly 1,100 Coloradans dying. Last year, 761 fentanyl-related deaths were recorded across Colorado.

Republican lawmakers have made several attempts to increase penalties for fentanyl possession and distribution in recent years. During the 2025 session, Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, and former Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, introduced a measure that would have made it a Level 1 drug felony to manufacture or distribute any amount of fentanyl and a Level 4 drug felony for possession of any quantity of fentanyl. The bill failed to pass out of its first committee, with some arguing it focused too much on punishment rather than substance use treatment and prevention.

Pelton, who was at the press conference on Thursday, said he has sponsored a fentanyl bill every year he has been in office.

“What we’re dealing with right now in the state of Colorado is a public health crisis,” he said. “The leading cause of death in the nation for 18-to-45-year-olds is fentanyl, and you can take care of it right here with this ballot measure by holding drug dealers accountable for the deaths of children, the deaths of parents, and the deaths of a loved one. These families deserve to have justice, and they are not getting it right now. The legislature has failed by making drug laws weak and hamstringing law enforcement.”

“It’s time to hold the people that are peddling poison to our children accountable, and it’s time to get help to those people that need help,” he continued. “It must stop with the current state of affairs, with the people lying in the streets, dying from fentanyl overdoses.”

Last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized 1.7 million counterfeit fentanyl pills from a home in Highlands Ranch, the largest seizure of its kind in Colorado history and the sixth-largest in the country.

Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly, who helped oversee the operation, attended Thursday’s press conference.

“This isn’t a passing drug trend,” he said. “This is the most dangerous substance that we law enforcement have ever seen on the streets. Law enforcement is doing everything we can: we seize drugs, we make arrests, and we educate our schools, but the truth is, Colorado’s laws leave dangerous gaps that allow dealers to be right back on the streets.”

Opponents of the measure, and of increasing penalties in general, argue that the “tough on crime” approach favored by Republicans has not worked, and that a focus on “harm reduction” rather than punishment is more effective.

According to Jason Vitello of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on the “drug war”, and that, despite those dollars, “we are facing down an unprecedented overdose crisis, a highly unpredictable and dangerous street drug supply, and over 500,000 people incarcerated in the U.S. on drug charges.”

“It’s time to reinvest our attention and civic resources from punishment to public welfare,” he told a legislative committee last year.