New Colorado law gives Larimer County law enforcement tool to combat fentanyl crisis

Sady Swanson, Fort Collins Coloradoan
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The morning of Sept. 1, a man called Fort Collins police to report his 24-year-old girlfriend had died in their apartment.

Investigators say the woman died from an overdose after purchasing fentanyl around midnight that night, according to court documents. With the help of her boyfriend and by reading the woman's texts, investigators identified a person they suspect sold the fentanyl to the woman. And because of a new Colorado law, prosecutors were able to charge that person in her death.

A 39-year-old Fort Collins woman was arrested Sept. 7 on suspicion of the new charge created by the state legislature: Illegal distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, a Class 1 drug felony. A person convicted of a Class 1 drug felony could face up to 32 years in prison.

This is the first fatal overdose case charged in Larimer County since this law took effect July 1, 8th Judicial District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin said. About 20 fatal overdoses have occurred in the county in the same time frame, including one juvenile death.

Prior to this new law taking effect, the district attorney’s office wasn’t involved in investigating overdose deaths because they were so unlikely to lead to prosecutable cases, McLaughlin said. Now they send at least one prosecutor to each reported overdose, and law enforcement respond to investigate each like they would a suspected homicide.

“When there wasn’t this tool to do it, law enforcement was sort of at a dead end. It wasn’t that they didn’t care, it wasn’t that they didn’t want to,” McLaughlin said. “Now that there is potential for prosecution, the potential to hold someone accountable, we have all rallied and tried to figure out what we can do to achieve that.”

Larimer County 'flooded with fentanyl'

The illicit drug market in Larimer County and statewide “is flooded with fentanyl right now,” Northern Colorado Drug Task Force Commander Ian Stewart said.

The multi-agency group — which focuses on investigating drug crimes, primarily in Larimer County — didn’t start tracking how much fentanyl they were confiscating annually until about five or six years ago, Stewart said. The first year they counted, it was under 100 pills. Last year, it was more than 100,000, he said.

The number collected this year has already shattered that record.

“It’s just mind-numbing,” Stewart said.

Different drugs have peaked in popularity at different times in the past, Stewart said, like methamphetamine 30 years ago and heroin after that, but he's "never seen a wave of a problem of a narcotic hit us in a way, in my career, fentanyl is right now."

Stewart attributes that largely to fentanyl being cheap and extremely potent.

"Pretty much every drug in the county is laced with fentanyl now,” UCHealth emergency department physician Kenneth Patrick said.

Patrick said the ER isn't seeing more overdose patients even as fatal overdoses skyrocket, largely because fentanyl is so potent that people die before they are able to get medical help.

In 2021, 38 of the 67 accidental fatal drug overdoses in Larimer County involved fentanyl, according to the Larimer County Coroner's Office. That's more than double what Larimer County saw in 2020, when there were 17 fentanyl-related overdoses, according to the coroner's office.

McLaughlin said "fentanyl is akin to poison" because the drug can be pressed into pills to look like other opioids or laced into stimulants like cocaine and people don't know what they're taking.

“The landscape of drug distribution changed with fentanyl, and so the law needed to catch up,” McLaughlin said.

Colorado law provides 'new tool' to 'make those investigations worth it'

On average, there’s an overdose death in the county every five days, which is now like “an additional homicide every five days,” McLaughlin said.

Though investigating large-scale drug distribution networks is a heavy lift for law enforcement and the district attorney's office, Colorado's new law "gives us the ability to make those investigations worth it,” McLaughlin said.

Prior to the law, overdose deaths were rarely investigated by law enforcement and the district attorney’s office because they had no way to prosecute someone for providing the drugs that caused someone’s death, Deputy District Attorney Lynzi Maas said.

Existing homicide laws are written so that the prosecution must prove a person intended to kill another person, and existing drug distribution laws are written so that the intent is placed on the distribution of the drug, Maas said.

Under the new law, the intent is still placed on the distribution of the drug, but it also allows someone to be prosecuted if someone dies as a result of the drug distribution.

“It’s hard to prove that you intended to kill someone when you gave them a drug,” Maas said. “But I can prove under the new bill that you intended to distribute a drug when you gave it to them, and you knew that it contained fentanyl.”

Since July 1, members of the drug task force and the district attorney’s office have responded to every overdose call in the 8th Judicial District, which includes Larimer and Jackson counties. These investigations are complex, McLaughlin said, combining the most challenging aspects of a drug investigation and the most challenging aspects of a homicide investigation.

“In a homicide (involving) a gun or a knife, it’s very clear what happened. … Usually the gun is in somebody else’s hand,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Hardouin said. “... Whereas in a fentanyl overdose, those links are missing, and that’s what we’re having to build in a whole new way.

“We’re having to show the movement of that drug from the dealer to the victim, and it’s not being done in front of people. There’s not a loud bang when it happens,” Hardouin said. “It’s really developing the evidence to satisfy beyond a reasonable doubt that that drug deal happened when it happens in the privacy of a home, behind a building, at a park, at night, in a car.”

This means involving detectives who are experts in investigating drug distribution and homicides along with data experts and experts from the coroner’s office to explain toxicology results, Hardouin said.

They have to predict what each case would look like at trial, and only a few of these cases have been charged statewide since the law took effect and none have gone to a jury yet.

“It’s an area of law that’s completely brand new,” Hardouin said.

Larimer County's first case involving the law is still ongoing. The 39-year-old woman charged in that case, Angela Branco, next appears in court Monday, Nov. 7. She is currently in the Larimer County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

In treatment world, it's important to 'meet people where they're at'

The new law is only one piece of combatting this crisis, McLaughlin said.

“My philosophy on drug use is that we need to be getting people treatment,” McLaughlin said, and use law enforcement’s resources to “hold the worst actors (the drug dealers) accountable.”

“We aren’t going to stop fentanyl tomorrow,” McLaughlin said, so other harm reduction strategies are important to keep the community safe.

Several organizations in Northern Colorado focused on addiction and substance abuse treatment are bolstering their efforts to make treatment more readily available and expand harm reduction techniques.

SummitStone Health Partners is working to make access to medically assisted treatment for substance use disorders as immediate as possible, Director of Acute Services Cassie Damato said. SummitStone has made medications available through the organization's behavioral health urgent care, 1217 Riverside Ave. in Fort Collins, and accepts Medicare and other types of insurance.

"Individuals don't have to wait for an appointment with an emergency department prescriber," Damato said. "We’re working diligently to meet individuals where they're at.”

Treatment centers like the Front Range Clinic are working to "prove the lowest-barrier-of-care, highest-access" treatment to anyone seeking it, meaning people can get a medical appointment either the same day or the next day "so they can start treatment when they're ready," said Dayna DeHerrera-Smith, business development manager for the Front Range Clinic.

"We want to make sure they know, when they're ready for care, we'll figure out how to get them there," said MJ Jorgensen, the director of addiction response for North Colorado Health Alliance. "... It's important that, when the individual is ready, we're ready."

When people come to the ER or other local clinic locations seeking substance use services, Patrick and DeHerrera-Smith said they're seeing more people identifying fentanyl as the drug they most often use, either by choice or just acknowledging that it's likely in other substances they are using.

That's where harm reduction strategies can help save lives, DeHerrera-Smith said.

"I personally think everyone should carry naloxone," DeHerrera-Smith said. Often referred to as the brand name Narcan, naloxone can help treat an opioid overdose in an emergency situation.

Jorgensen said naloxone is available for free in a variety of places, and people can get it from pharmacies without a prescription. At pharmacies, you'd have to pay your insurance's co-pay. Patrick said UCHealth ERs have received naloxone kits and give them away to people who come in for drug-related care.

A vending machine for people to get free naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips has been placed inside the Murphy Center, Jorgensen said, and the North Colorado Health Alliance received a behavioral health services grant to place additional vending machines around the county.

Jorgensen said it's also important for people to use fentanyl test strips on any nonprescription substances — which can also be found at clinics for free — and to never use substances alone.

"There's a lot of fear with fentanyl and other opioids, so having tools ... provides some relief," Jorgensen said.

All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

Where can I get naloxone?

CO-SLAW naloxone mailing program: Larimer and Weld county residents can request to have naloxone mailed to them for free by visiting northcoloradohealthalliance.org/naloxone. CO-SLAW stands for Colorado Opioid Synergy for Larimer and Weld counties.

Murphy Center: A free naloxone and fentanyl test strip vending machine is located inside at 242 Conifer St., Fort Collins.

Pharmacies may also have naloxone available, and you'd have to pay your insurance's co-pay.

Substance use and addiction treatment options in and near Larimer County

The variety of substance-use and addiction treatment options can be hard to navigate. For those looking for more guidance, reach out for free to a care coordinator through the CO-SLAW program 24/7 at 1-844-944-7529. Below are some of the addiction recovery resources in and around Larimer County.

If it is an emergency, call 911.

SummitStone offers a range of services, including intensive outpatient treatment, medically assisted treatment, residential treatment and peer support groups. People seeking treatment can begin same-day.

Front Range Clinic provides medically assisted treatment and other outpatient behavioral health counseling and treatment.

  • Call: 970-493-9193

  • Visit: frontrangemd.com

  • Location: 1120 E. Elizabeth St., Building G, Suite 2, Fort Collins

Sunrise Community Health works with community partners to help patients address substance use along with their primary care.

Salud Family Health Centers offers behavioral health services in addition to and during medical visits.

Northpoint offers inpatient and outpatient treatment.

Turning Point Center for Youth & Family Development provides outpatient care for youths, young adults and families.

  • Call: 970-221-0999

  • Visit: turningpnt.org

  • Location: 1644 S. College Ave., Fort Collins

​​​​​​Harmony Foundation can provide evaluation and detox services, residential treatment, intensive outpatient services and other recovery support services. Staff are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

North Range Behavioral Health offers detox and treatment services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including withdrawal management services.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado fentanyl law opens door to prosecute for fatal overdoses