Colorado gets $21 million from the feds to combat fentanyl, opioid abuse

Colorado is getting $21 million from the Biden administration to combat opioid abuse, notably by expanding prevention campaigns targeting the youth, the White House announced on Friday morning.

The money is part of a $1.5 billion package awarded to states and territories to support programs that expand access to treatment and recovery support services.

The funding will also help the states increase investments in overdose education, peer support specialists in emergency departments, and other strategies.

In Colorado, the state Department of Human Services also intends to use the funding for nontraditional settings, such as mobile medications units run by hospital pharmacies or county health departments; allocate some of the funding to fight stigma through a campaign that shares the stories of recovery; and expand prevention campaigns geared toward young people.

Colorado also will use the money to boost programs that distribute, among others, fentanyl test strips.

Under Colorado's plan, the money would ultimately serve more nearly 26,000 individuals.

Colorado's fentanyl crisis has been spiraling out of control in the last few years, with fatal overdoses in Colorado tied to fentanyl steadily rising for several years before exploding in 2020. They reached their highest point, both in Colorado and nationwide, in 2021: 907 Coloradans fatally overdosed after ingesting fentanyl last year, a 66% increase from 2020 and quadruple the total from 2019. 

Officials, both from law enforcement and from organizations that work directly with drug users, say fentanyl pills are widely and cheaply available. They've largely replaced heroin as the primary opioid on the illicit market, and fentanyl powder is increasingly found mixed into other drugs, like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine — often without the user's knowledge.