In order to strengthen enforcement of state and federal laws against illegal use of fentanyl, Montezuma County Sheriff Steven Nowlin plans to back up Colorado’s Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention law with federal prosecution.

House Bill 22-1326 was signed by Gov. Jared Polis in May and passed with bipartisan support. Sponsors of the bill were Rep. Alec Garnett, D-Denver; Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood; and Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley.

The law makes it a felony to possess more than 1 gram of fentanyl, and was intended in part to give law enforcement officers the tools to prosecute dealers and provide treatment to people with substance use disorders and addictions.

Polis has touted the legislation and funding as a plan to make Colorado “one of the 10 safest states in the next five years.”

According to Colorado’s legislative website, this bill is used “concerning measures to address synthetic opioids, and, in connection therewith, changing the criminal penalties associated with synthetic opioids; providing treatment for persons in the criminal justice system” among other initiatives. While it sounds like it will deliver harsher penalties to those caught with the drug in the state, Nowlin says the bill actually doesn’t.

Even though fentanyl is lethal in minuscule doses, the law labels possession of it as a misdemeanor, but Nowlin says working closely with federal prosecutors will help ensure that those in possession of dangerous drugs are locked up for a long time.

“That’s why we go after prosecution on the federal side,” he said. “We can’t bring federal charges ourselves; it has to be a federal agent or agency.”

“It goes right back to the fact that we want it to stop, and we want those that are importing and distributing these drugs in these large amounts in our community and into our county to go away for a long, long time,” he said.

To ensure they are meeting the new requirements laid out in the law, Nowlin said the Sheriff’s Office has added a narcotics investigator/detective and intelligence analyst to the county’s drug task force. They hope to add a third detective to the force this year.

The drug task force deals with the “importation and distribution of illicit drugs in Montezuma County and the state of Colorado.” They do this in a variety of different ways, namely through operations, covert operations and other initiatives.

To boost the task force’s efforts, Nowlin said they are trying to get the designation of a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area through the federal government. The designation would allow for more federal assistance and funding for the Sheriff’s Office and drug task force.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Silt, also supports the efforts for the designation, and has introduced the Fentanyl is a Weapon of Mass Destruction Act, which she said would “increase interagency cooperation and allocate additional resources … to combat the fentanyl crisis.”

“We really need more state funding,” Nowlin said. “All of this has just been dumped on us. … It makes it really hard for counties like Montezuma that have limited funding. We don’t have a sales tax, we have a property tax that pays for the county’s services, and those property taxes are going down.”

Because Cortez is a hub through which drugs are distributed to other parts of Colorado and other states, Nowlin said they are working closely with other states, specifically Arizona and New Mexico, to stop traffickers before they are able to step foot in the county.

“That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “Stopping it before it even gets here. It really works for all of us to work together as best we can. Working with our neighboring states has been very beneficial and we have good working relationships with everybody there.”

The new law also requires jails to adhere to certain rules for inmates who are addicted to drugs.

“Every inmate brought in must be examined for any type of illicit drug that they may be addicted to, and there are certain drugs and whatnot that are required to be recommended to administer to help with their withdrawals or addictions,” Nowlin noted.

At the sheriff’s insistence, the county will allow Southwest Health Partners to take the lead in handling the medical needs at the jail, which takes the pressure off the Sheriff’s Office to provide examinations and administer treatments.

“We just don’t have the means,” Nowlin said. “I’m really excited about Southwest Health Partners taking over the medical needs and portions of the detention center because that is going to be a big help.”

Polis followed up in November by announcing that law enforcement agencies could also apply for grant funding to help them investigate and enforce laws against illegal opioids in Colorado.

Colorado Division of Criminal Justice accepted applications from law enforcement agencies for the Synthetic Opiate Poisoning Investigation and Distribution Interdiction Grant Program through Jan. 6.

The Sheriff’s Office applied for grant funding but won’t know whether it received any until May or June, Nowlin said.

Nowlin noted that the drug task force has been working tirelessly to bring drug traffickers to justice and that it is a constant focus of the Sheriff’s Office.

“Where are we going to be able to protect the community the best? By stopping and removing these drug traffickers and the importation pipeline that we’ve uncovered,” he said.

In 2021, more than 107,000 Americans died of an overdose, and that number climbed to 180,000 in 2022. Overdose deaths have risen by 50% in two years.

Nowlin said the long-term fix to drug trafficking and the number of overdose deaths will be stopping the flow across the border with Mexico. He said drug cartels and traffickers are terrorist organizations, and Border Patrol is being overwhelmed by the sheer number of people crossing.

He said what they’ve discovered along the border is staggering, but it is only a drop in the bucket.

“It just goes on 24 hours a day, and that is what we’re all up against,” he said. “How do we get people to not use drugs? And how do we get the help people need to get off of it? It’s a struggle we’re all going to have to face if you really want to get serious about it.”

“It’s going to be a very very busy next few years, and all we can do is the best we can to try to protect everybody,” he finished.

Legislators have mentioned they may revise the bill to create harsher penalties rather than lessening the offense.