Colorado drug law leads to more fentanyl deaths

 Washington Free Beacon:

On Sunday, five people died of fentanyl overdoses in a suburban Denver apartment, leaving a four-month-old baby parentless as a result. Now, local enforcement officials are blaming a Democrat-passed bill that weakened the criminal punishment for fentanyl possession.

Police found five adults dead in a Commerce City, Colo., apartment Sunday afternoon, with narcotics discovered at the scene later testing positive for fentanyl. The tragic event has revived calls from local prosecutors and police to reverse a 2019 law that made the possession of four grams or less of many hard drugs—including fentanyl—a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

That law passed shortly after Colorado Democrats expanded their majority in the state House and captured control of the state Senate. At the time, Colorado prosecutors called on lawmakers to exempt fentanyl from the penalty reduction, noting that four grams of fentanyl is the equivalent of 13,000 deadly doses. But the bill's sponsors refused, and opioid overdose deaths in the state went on to spike by 54 percent in 2020.
...

Fentanyl is a deadly drug.  Those who sell it are participating in murder according to Texas authorities. Trading in fentanyl should be a felony.