Pueblo Police Chief weighs in on new bill to combat Colorado fentanyl crisis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The highly-anticipated bill that aims to curb Colorado's fentanyl crisis was just released publicly, but it's now drawing criticism from law enforcement across the state.

The fentanyl legislation comes as deaths from fentanyl overdoses continue to double each year in El Paso County, with 102 people dying from the drug in 2021.

The El Paso County Board of Health addressed the issue at their regularly scheduled meeting last Wednesday.

“You can see the significant trend from 2016 accidental fentanyl deaths were four and now its 102 in 2021,” Dr. Chris Urbina, El Paso County's Interim Medical director stated.

The bill states if someone is caught trying to distribute any amount of fentanyl, they'll face felony charges -- but if they're only caught possessing four grams or less, the charge remains a misdemeanor. It's something Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller isn't happy about.

“I don’t know that just saying, 'meh, it’s a misdemeanor, you won’t have to go to jail' is helpful to them," Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller said. "I had an interesting conversation with an addict one time who is recovered and they said the only thing that got them on the path to recovery was going to jail.”

Within the bill, HB-1326, is a "Good Samaritan" clause. It states that if someone provides fentanyl (intentionally or not), but calls 911 after an overdose, stays on scene, and cooperates with first responders — they could have charges reduced.

Still, Chief Noeller says reducing charges won't help addicts to get treatment.

“This means there is no real leverage to get someone into treatment it is easy to take the misdemeanor hit and not go to treatment,” he said.

The bill is expected to be introduced in the state house next week.