New Colorado fentanyl law not working as prosecutors anticipated
Some Colorado prosecutors and families of fentanyl overdose victims say a new state law aimed at stiffening penalties for dealers whose fentanyl kills people isn't working as planned.
"We didn't anticipate having this particular issue," said Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, referring to an unexpected conflict with coroners' offices.
Fentanyl overdoses took roughly 2,000 lives in Colorado in the last two years. The 2022 law was partly aimed at giving prosecutors the ability to prosecute fentanyl dealers with felonies if their fentanyl killed people. But prosecutors say they are finding an unexpected hurdle: coroners' offices that find other substances in a victim's system beyond fentanyl can be reluctant to pinpoint fentanyl as the cause of death.
"It's not working out the way I thought it would," said McCann. "I don't think any of the DAs anticipated this issue."
Many fentanyl users who overdose also have other drugs or alcohol in their systems, and many coroners say that makes it hard to pinpoint if fentanyl caused the death or a combination of factors. McCann says as a result, her office has not been able to convict any fentanyl dealers under the new law.
"Our medical examiner in Denver is reluctant to give us the cause of death as fentanyl if there are multiple drugs or alcohol in the system in addition to fentanyl. What we would really like is them to say even with the other drugs, the fentanyl was adequate and this person would have died."
"Perhaps the law needs to be revised"
Dr. James Caruso, Denver's medical examiner, said he "can't tailor what I do for the purpose of a prosecution."
"I don't work for the DA or law enforcement. I have to include all the drugs," said Caruso, "because they do have an effect on the body in addition to the fentanyl. I can't alter my practices and be medically dishonest to move forward a prosecution."
Caruso said he regularly hears from families of fentanyl overdose victims who question why the medical examiner couldn't blame the death on fentanyl, which would have led to a harsher prosecution.
"I certainly understand the frustration and receive phone calls all the time," said Caruso. "If the law isn't allowing prosecutions to move forward the way it was intended to, perhaps the law needs to be revised."
Incorrect assumptions about Colorado's new law
When Tricia Otto's son Calvin Grace, 29, was found dead this past May in Englewood, an autopsy revealed a significant amount of fentanyl in his system. Otto said her son had battled addiction since his teenage years and had been addicted to opiates and heroin, but had been sober for eight months before his death.
She assumed the dealer who sold her son fentanyl would be prosecuted under the new law and if convicted, could face decades in prison. But that's not what happened. The Arapahoe County coroner also found alcohol in the young man's system and termed his death as being due to "mixed drug (fentanyl and ethanol) toxicity."
Arapahoe County corner Dr. Kelly Lear said there is no doubt fentanyl played a part in Calvin Grace's death, "but in effect, the alcohol in his system could have pushed him over the edge."
"I cannot medically determine if he would or would not have died in the absence of alcohol," said Lear.
A potential prosecution in Grace's death stalled.
"I'm not buying it," said Otto, who hired an independent toxicologist who concluded her son died of fentanyl toxicity. She said she is frustrated because "They initiated that law for the purpose of trying to get a handle on the problem and send the message to people they can't be handing out poison on our streets."
Otto said she will continue to press for a prosecution in her son's overdose death.
"This is about all the future Calvins and all the broken mamas and reducing that number."
RELATED: State Department partners with Denver public health experts in effort to combat fentanyl crisis | Colorado congresswoman fights opioid epidemic with push to screen mail for fentanyl | Mother who lost son to fentanyl fights to keep known dealer behind bars
