Michael Fiore, the outreach coordinator for Voices for Awareness and Project Facing Fentanyl, remembered selling drugs to support his addiction and skating through the system before getting clean – after serving a prison term in New York.

Fiori said when people figure out they only need to carry less than 4 grams and all they will face, if caught, is a simple misdemeanor, they will do that.

Addicts, he said, do not learn until they are held accountable.

“Sympathy causes a disconnect in recovery,” the once 20-year addict told members of the House Judiciary Committee during a late-night hearing on Wednesday.

Being tough on addicts is the best approach to get them on the right track, he said.

And when it comes to fentanyl, Fiori stressed there is no level of a “safe dose” – that all levels can be deadly.

Fiori was among several people – many with first-hand experience – who testified on a proposal to make possession of any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains “any quantity” of fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or an analog, a Level 4 drug felony.

His testimony and those of others exemplified the philosophical battle between two divergent approaches to curbing drug addiction, which has killed thousands of Colorado residents in the last few years. Last year, 522 people died from drug overdoses in Denver alone, the most since tracking began in 1923, according to city records. And though final numbers for overdose deaths statewide won’t be available until this summer, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment recorded 1,454 total drug overdose deaths among Colorado residents from 2023, thus far. 

On the one hand, some former addicts and dealers testified that the laws in Colorado do nothing to dissuade them, and, with the tougher penalties kicking in only for carrying more than 4 grams, it enables them to keep up with the bad habits.

On the other hand, former addicts testified that drug addiction is a public health crisis that should not be criminalized but instead dealt with through medication, better treatment options, kindness and understanding.

Disagreeing with Fiori’s approach was another recovering addict, who said the “old-school, 12-step, AA tough approach” is outdated.

Racquel Garcia of the state’s Opioid Abatement Council said her addiction led to the accidental overdose of her best friend, adding the lack of availability of naloxone proved fatal. Garcia said her going to jail would not have done any good for anyone.

“This a public health crisis that demands a public solution, not a punitive legal response,” she said. “Instead of channeling our resources into felonization and perpetuating a costly cycle of mass incarceration, we should invest in substance use prevention regardless of income level.”

Instead of jail and prison terms, she argued, addicts need more patience, understanding, and treatment that is not about judgment or criminalization. Citing her experience, she said she recovered by being treated with understanding and kindness.

House Rep. Mike Lynch, who introduced House Bill 1306, urged Colorado legislators to embrace the idea that fentanyl use and distribution should not be tolerated. He characterized his proposal as a follow-up to laws passed during the 2019 and 2022 sessions, which, he said, is leading to situations where too many people caught with fentanyl only face misdemeanors when they declare, as a defense, they did know the drugs they carried contained fentanyl.

In response the overdose crisis, state policymakers in 2022 had approved legislation to heighten the felony charges for possession of 1 to 4 grams of any substance containing fentanyl. The criminal penalty increase above 4 grams, an under 1 gram, possession is a misdemeanor.

In addition, the law allows defendants charged with the new felony to argue to a judge or jury that they didn’t know they possessed fentanyl, and if a “finder of fact” determines the defendant made a reasonable mistake of fact, the offense becomes a Level 1 drug misdemeanor.

The bill, which would have eliminated that provision, failed to move forward, dying on a party-line, 8-3 vote after nearly four hours of testimony. Democrats who voted down the bill said they believe Lynch’s heart is in the right place, but that more data from the 2022 law is needed, adding better efforts also need to be undertaken on the public health front.

Much of the night’s testimony centered on addiction and not what Lynch said is the point of the proposal, which he said is aimed at saving lives by deterring casual drug use.

Lynch said his bill would deter small-time and first-time casual drug users to pause and rethink. He called the bill a “deterrent” option.

For those addicted, Lynch said, felony charges increase the possibility of being connected to more resources, while a misdemeanor means an easy ticket out, with no real action.

The families of victims who had died from fentanyl overdose pleaded with House judiciary members to say yes to the bill.

Debbie Garcia said her daughter died in 2022 with four other friends in Commerce City. Her daughter, she said, was “murdered, deceived and poisoned by fentanyl.” Her daughter was planning to do cocaine that night, and had no idea that the drug was laced with a deadly dose of fentanyl, she said. 

“They were not addicts,” Garcia said, “but hard-working adults who made one wrong decision to do cocaine. They should have learned that cocaine is not a good choice. Not be dead.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death among adults between 18 and 45 in the U.S.

In telling the board to pass Lynch’s bill, Garcia said she would rather have her daughter be charged with a felony than be dead.

Commerce City Deputy Chief Greg Sader also testified in favor of increased penalties. Sader said people say not to take it personally, “but when you are walking across five dead bodies in an apartment, it is personal.”

Sader was on scene in the Commerce City apartment in February 2022 when Garcia’s daughter was found.

With less focus on drug crimes by the state, Sader said law enforcement has fewer tools, and as drug arrests have decreased, property crimes and other associated criminal activity tend to increase.

Colorado is not the only state dealing with the fentanyl crisis. After fully embracing the “harm reduction” strategy, Oregon is now moving to recriminalize drugs. Oregon passed a measure in 2021 that gave those found possessing hard drugs a $100 citation or a health assessment. State data showed that few opted for health assessments and paid the fine.

And, faced with public pressure to curb overdose deaths, Republicans and Democrats alike agreed a rollback is needed.

Several Democratic members of the Colorado House Judiciary Committee criticized the idea of making possession of small amounts a felony, saying it could harm first-time or casual users. They noted that having a felony record could also hurt a rehabilitated person’s future efforts in getting an education, buying a home or securing employment.

Several said that people who buy something like street marijuana that turned out to have been laced with fentanyl should not be subjected to a felony record – forever.

Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, challenged the idea that Colorado laws are not doing enough. She said the laws are in place, and law enforcement and district attorneys can charge and punish offenders.

Several medical professionals spoke against the idea that drug users are all bad.

“We want the same thing, to combat and end overdose epidemic,” said Dr. Katherine LeMasters of the Right Response Coalition. LeMasters is a professor at University of Colorado School of Medicine who has studied the effects of increased use of fentanyl and its criminalization.

“We have effective ways to combat this crisis. We need free on demand treatment and recovery, which our state desperately lacks. We also know what worsens the crisis – increased legal penalties for drug use. Criminalization is not effective,” she said. 

In jail, drug use is high, and post-release drug use is high, LeMaster said. Better access to services to get help is more important, she added.

Dr. Hannah Braun of Denver Health and Colorado Society of Addiction described the last few years as a war on his patients, noting that a period of “forced sobriety, such as incarceration, does not mitigate the risk of future use and can, unfortunately, increase harm to that individual.”

Braun pushed for improving programs that provide better access to syringes and medications, such as Narcan and Methadone.

Trisha Auto offered a different experience. She said she took her son to serve his 180-day sentence in jail. The first day she took him to turn himself in, she said they were sent home because the jail was too busy. She said they processed him the next day, but he only served 10 of the 180 days and was back on the streets.

He died from ingesting fentanyl at age 29.

Other parents who lost their children to fentanyl said families should not keep paying the price for a broken system.

Andrea Thomas of Colorado Voices for Awareness also lost a daughter in 2018 to fentanyl after she took a counterfeit pill. Thomas said she was the 14th death associated with that drug dealer.

Thomas said Colorado has missed the mark, noting that she does not understand how lawmakers have so much empathy for those who pedal drugs.

“We are giving more chances to bad actors,” she said. “When there is no consequence, there is mayhem.”