opioid
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Garnett’s gambit: House speaker fights for legacy-defining fentanyl bill in final year as legislator
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When House Speaker Alec Garnett sat down with Colorado Politics in January to reflect on his last year in office, he said he always prefers taking on “one tough one than a bunch of consensus-driven ideas.” “I always tell Emily that I’m going to focus on one big thing,” said Garnett, one of the youngest to…
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Felony for expungement: Arapahoe sheriff offers compromise on fentanyl bill
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Law enforcement advocates are pursuing a compromise to make possession of any amount of fentanyl a felony but allow for the expungement of the criminal record upon completion of certain programs, such as drug treatment or diversion. Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown told Colorado Politics that offer was “met with resistance” when he and others…
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Colorado House committee advances bill that lowers felony threshold for fentanyl possession
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A panel of Colorado legislators advanced a bill Wednesday that increases criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of fentanyl, a middle-of-the-road approach between factions who want harsher penalties and those who decry going back to the tough-on-crime strategy of the past. The House Judiciary Committee advanced House Bill 1326, the legislature’s sweeping attempt to address…
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Advocates diametrically disagree on imprisonment’s role in response to fentanyl crisis
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Fighting through tears, Jessica Chavez recounted before a panel of Colorado lawmakers how her daughter, Yesenia, fatally overdosed in July after taking a fentanyl pill she thought was Percocet. Before her death, Yesi, as her friends called her, had texted her family’s pastor, Chavez told lawmakers. The 21-year-old told him that she wanted “to do…
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Law enforcement groups, harm reduction advocates clash over fentanyl possession
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A coalition of law enforcement organizations on Thursday criticized a sweeping approach to the fentanyl crisis in Colorado, saying it doesn’t do enough to crack down on those who possess the deadly drug. But harm reduction and addiction experts have taken the opposite position, warning that proposed changes to the state’s drug code would have…
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Justice agencies pitch requests to lawmakers, including separate funding for judicial discipline body
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State lawmakers heard a variety of requests from justice agencies on Tuesday, including a need for paralegals at the public defender’s office, a constitutional amendment to facilitate a new judicial district, and a funding stream for the state’s judicial discipline body that does not require Supreme Court approval. Officials told legislators about pressing challenges, notably…
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Colorado to surpass 2020 overdose death toll
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Colorado is on track to surpass its record-breaking overdose death toll from last year, state data show, with fentanyl continuing to play a larger and deadlier role in the state’s spiraling overdose crisis and even as lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies and opioid manufacturers begin to wind down. Total data for 2021 is not yet available, state…
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Drug overdose deaths across Colorado drop for the first time in years
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Drug overdose deaths across Colorado eased slightly in 2018 for the first time in years, led by a drop in prescription painkiller deaths that have been a root cause of the opioid epidemic. Across the state, 974 people died from drug overdoses last year – a 38-person drop from the state’s record death toll set…
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DeGette seeks to stop deceit, kickbacks in substance-abuse treatment
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WASHINGTON – Colorado’s U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette questioned mental health officials at a congressional hearing this week on how to avoid deceptive advertising that could mislead patients desperate for substance abuse treatment. Tuesday’s hearing before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations caps a year-long probe into what some members of Congress…
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CONGRESSIONAL ROUNDUP | How Colorado’s delegation voted this week
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H.R. 5041: Safe Disposal of Unused Medication Act This was a vote to pass H.R. 5041 in the House. The Safe Disposal of Unused Medication Act is intended to prevent the misuse or theft of unused medications by authorizing hospice care workers to dispose of unused drugs, usually after hospice patients die or the medication…
