Colorado lawmakers have again rejected a bill that would have allowed supervised drug-use sites to open in willing cities — the third time in a year legislators have killed the proposal.
On Thursday night, two Democratic senators joined with the Senate Health and Human Service Committee’s three Republicans in voting to kill House Bill 1028, two weeks after it passed the House. The measure would’ve allowed the facilities — where drug users could ingest illicit substances under the supervision of medical personnel — to open in Denver. In the state’s capital, fatal overdoses surged 30% last year compared to 2022.
“This bill offers the opportunity for our community to utilize this life-saving tool,” Sen. Kevin Priola, a Henderson Democrat, told fellow senators. He sponsored the bill with Rep. Elisabeth Epps, a Denver Democrat. “To be clear, there is no mandate. Let’s (put) local control in the hands of the communities that know best how to reduce overdose deaths.”
A similar bill also passed the House last year before dying in the same Senate committee. Another attempt, a more moderate approach crafted in an interim committee, was shelved in October after Gov. Jared Polis — a noted opponent of the policy — issued an early veto threat.
That same interim committee advanced four other bills intended to address substance use; all four have advanced to various stages of approval in the Capitol, though none has fully cleared the building yet.
Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Littleton Democrat, said Thursday that her niece died from an overdose in the back of a car.
“We created this problem,” she said, “and now we just want to shove these people away and say, ‘You’re a drug addict. You’re worthless.’ ”
The same two Democratic senators who sank last April’s vote — Sens. Kyle Mullica and Joann Ginal — again doomed the policy Thursday. Both said they hadn’t been convinced that research or data backed the use of such sites, which are open in New York City and have reported zero overdose deaths among drug users at the sites.
Had the bill passed, it most immediately would have affected Denver. The city adopted an ordinance six years ago allowing a supervised drug-use facility to open, so long as the legislature signed off first.
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.
