Most Coloradans Oppose Re-Felonizing Drug Possession in War on Fentanyl, Poll Says

According to a new poll funded by the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition released today, April 6, the majority of Coloradans oppose increasing the penalty for possessing small amount of drugs from a misdemeanor to a felony, and even more favor prevention and treatment over incarceration to deal with increasing narcotics use — issues that have come to the forefront during the discussion of new legislation intended to fight the rise of fentanyl.

These findings offer pushback to conservatives who are clamoring to make fentanyl possession a felony again. But the poll doesn't use the word "fentanyl" — an indication that reformers fear that the term has become so demonized that its mere mention could have skewed the results.

"Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention," also known as HB22-1326, is co-sponsored by Representative Alec Garnett, the majority leader of the Colorado House; it was introduced late last month and is slated to go before the judiciary committee of the junior chamber on April 12. The bill increases penalties for people selling fentanyl, particularly if distribution results in death, but doesn't reverse the portion of a previous measure, 2019's HB19-1263, which made "possession of 4 grams or less of a controlled substance listed in schedule I or II a level 1 drug misdemeanor" — a crime punishable by "up to 180 days in the county jail or 2 years probation, with up to 180 days in jail as a condition of, or for a violation of, probation."

This change makes sense to Lisa Raville of Denver's Harm Reduction Action Center. In a recent interview during which she criticized police sweeps at Union Station, Raville stressed that "law enforcement can't arrest their way out of this, or they would have done it a long time ago." She also expressed concern over calls to increase criminal penalties on fentanyl following the February deaths of five people in the same Commerce City house; they'd all consumed cocaine laced with fentanyl. The reactions to those deaths reminded Raville of "the way politicians talked about crack in the 1980s, and the laws that were passed devastated folks and entire communities with incarceration."

Nonetheless, get-tough, War on Drugs rhetoric exploded after the specifics of Garnett's fentanyl bill were made public by the conservative outfit Compass Colorado, among others.

Enter Public Policy Polling, which tends to work with progressive organizations. PPP surveyed 624 registered Colorado voters from March 31 through April 1, compiling results for the state as a whole, as well as Denver and Aurora specifically. The state poll has an error margin of plus or minus 3.9 percent, the same as the Aurora survey; the plus-or-minus error margin for the Denver poll is estimated at 4.3 percent.

The first question on all three polls: "Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree with the following statement: When it comes to addressing issues related to drug use,
Colorado should focus more on prevention and treatment and less on punishment and incarceration." Of the respondents for all of Colorado, 50 percent strongly agreed and 23 percent somewhat agreed, for a total of 73 percent. The total for Denver was 81 percent (58 percent strongly agreed, 23 percent somewhat agreed), and 71 percent for Aurora (46 percent strongly agreed, 25 percent somewhat agreed).

The next question: "In 2019, Colorado reduced the penalty for possession of illegal drugs for personal use
from a felony to a misdemeanor in order to reduce the number of people being sent to prison for low-level drug offenses. Some legislators now say they want to increase the penalty for possession and make it a felony again. Would you support or oppose increasing the penalty for drug possession from a misdemeanor to a felony?" In Colorado, 56 percent of respondents opposed the increase, while 31 percent supported it and 13 percent weren't sure. The Denver numbers landed at 65 percent opposed, 24 percent supported and 11 percent not sure, while Aurora's showed 53 percent opposed, 32 percent supported and 15 percent not sure.

All three polls also indicated that respondents would be less likely to support officials who voted to increase the penalty for minor possession from a misdemeanor to a felony.

In a statement on the poll results, Christie Donner, executive director of the CCJRC, which teamed up with the Harm Reduction Action center for a recent legislative briefing intended to debunk myths about fentanyl, argues that "the recent push by law enforcement to re-felonize drug possession will not be effective in reducing drug use and is not supported by a majority of the community. Colorado voters think efforts to address drug use and addiction should focus on prevention and treatment, not punishment and incarceration. Making drug users felons is not the way to help them."

She adds: "Police officers and drug task forces are supposed to enforce laws, not pressure legislators to pass bad laws. Preventing overdose deaths and treating addiction are public-health matters, and lawmakers should follow the guidance of public-health experts."

Click to read the fentanyl poll results for Colorado, Denver and Aurora, as well as HB22-1326.