Decriminalize & Heal

The Problem

The war on drugs has failed. Fifty years of criminalization have not reduced drug use (National Research Council, 2001; Drug Policy Alliance, 2024) - they’ve produced:

• Mass incarceration, disproportionately of Black and Latino men
• Overdose deaths at record levels (fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans 18-45)
• Over a trillion dollars wasted on enforcement that doesn’t work (NDIC, 2011)
• Stigma that prevents people from seeking help
• Criminal records that make recovery nearly impossible (can’t get a job, can’t get housing, can’t get student loans)

Denver specifically faces an opioid/fentanyl crisis that law enforcement cannot arrest its way out of. Every dollar spent on arresting drug users is a dollar not spent on treatment beds, recovery programs, and harm reduction.

What Denver Currently Does

Denver has some harm reduction infrastructure but treats drug use primarily as a criminal matter. The city decriminalized psilocybin via Initiated Ordinance 301 in 2019, and Colorado passed Proposition 122 in 2022 legalizing therapeutic psychedelics. But for the substances driving the actual crisis - fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin - the approach remains enforcement-first.

Denver reported 827 unintentional drug poisoning deaths in 2023 (Denver Office of the Medical Examiner, 2024). Fentanyl was involved in 64% of those deaths. Denver Police made 2,800+ drug-related arrests in 2023, but overdose deaths have continued to rise year over year. The enforcement approach is not producing results.

Who Opposes This (and Why)

The Denver Police Protective Association and Denver District Attorney’s office are the primary opponents. Law enforcement budgets and headcount are directly tied to drug enforcement, creating institutional incentives to maintain criminalization regardless of outcomes. The Colorado Restaurant Association and Downtown Denver Partnership will raise “quality of life” concerns about safe consumption sites. Counter: every city with supervised consumption sites has seen reductions in public drug use and discarded needles, not increases.

Our Solution

Denver Decriminalization & Harm Reduction Act

1. Decriminalize Personal Possession

• Possession of any substance in personal-use quantities is not a criminal offense in Denver
• Personal-use thresholds established by public health experts (not prosecutors)
• Possession remains a civil infraction with referral to treatment services - not jail
• Manufacturing and distribution remain criminal offenses
• This is the Portugal model: decriminalization + treatment investment = reduced overdose deaths, reduced HIV, reduced drug use

2. Treatment on Demand

• Anyone seeking substance use treatment can access it within 24 hours - no waitlists
• Full spectrum: detox, residential treatment, outpatient, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), peer support
• City-funded treatment beds to eliminate waitlists
• Treatment available regardless of insurance status or ability to pay
• Culturally competent, trauma-informed, multilingual services

3. Safe Consumption Sites

• Supervised consumption facilities where people can use substances under medical supervision
• Prevent overdose deaths (zero deaths have occurred in any supervised consumption site worldwide)
• Provide clean supplies, naloxone, wound care, and connection to treatment
• Reduce public drug use, discarded needles, and related public order concerns
• Legal under Denver’s home rule authority (city can decline to prosecute)

4. Naloxone Everywhere

• Free naloxone (Narcan) available at all city buildings, libraries, community centers, transit stations
• Training for all first responders, city employees, and willing community members
• No questions asked, no ID required
• Vending machines with naloxone in high-need areas

5. Expungement

• Automatic expungement of all prior drug possession convictions in Denver courts
• No application required - city reviews all records and clears eligible convictions
• Immediate notification to affected individuals
• Assistance with record clearing for state and federal convictions (referral to legal services)

6. Redirect Enforcement Budget

• Close the Drug Enforcement unit within Denver Police
• Redirect $15-20M/year to treatment, harm reduction, and recovery services
• Police focus on violent crime and trafficking - not users
• Cross-reference: Community Safety & Police Reform - LEAD Expansion (Until full decriminalization, Denver’s LEAD program provides an immediate operational mechanism: trained officers divert people to case management instead of arrest for low-level drug offenses. LEAD works under current law and bridges today’s system to the decriminalized future this policy envisions.)

How We Pay For It

Budget reallocation: Drug enforcement → treatment. Net new spending is minimal.

• Treatment on Demand: $20-30M/year (offset by reduced incarceration, emergency room, and law enforcement costs)
• Safe consumption sites: $3-5M/year (offset by reduced emergency response and hospital costs)
• Naloxone program: $1-2M/year
• Expungement: $2M one-time cost for record review

Cost savings: Incarceration costs $40K/year per person. Treatment costs $4-8K/year. Every person diverted from jail to treatment saves taxpayers $30K+/year.

Portugal’s results after decriminalization (2001): HIV infections among drug users dropped 95%. Overdose deaths dropped by 80%. Drug use rates are below the European average. This works.

International Evidence: Every Approach Works Better Than Criminalization

Every single alternative approach - Portuguese decriminalization, Swiss harm reduction, Dutch pragmatism - produces better outcomes than American criminalization. The evidence is not ambiguous. The war on drugs is the single most thoroughly disproven policy in modern history.

Frequently Asked Questions

“Won’t this encourage drug use?” Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001. Drug use rates went DOWN. Decriminalization doesn’t increase use - it removes the barrier to seeking help. People don’t use drugs because they’re legal. People avoid seeking treatment because they’re afraid of jail.

“Safe consumption sites sound extreme.” There are over 200 supervised consumption sites operating in 14 countries. Zero overdose deaths have occurred in any of them. They reduce public drug use, reduce discarded needles, and connect people to treatment. They are the most evidence-supported intervention available.

“What about dealers and traffickers?” This proposal decriminalizes personal use, not distribution. Manufacturing and trafficking remain criminal offenses. The distinction is simple: if you’re sick, you need a doctor; if you’re selling poison, you face consequences.

“What about Oregon? They tried decriminalization and reversed it.” Oregon’s Measure 110 is the most common counterargument, so let’s address it directly. Oregon decriminalized possession in 2020 and partially re-criminalized in 2024, citing rising overdose deaths. What actually happened: Oregon’s overdose spike tracked the national fentanyl wave and began before Measure 110 took effect. States that did NOT decriminalize saw similar or worse increases. More critically, Oregon failed to build treatment infrastructure - only 10% of allocated treatment funds were spent in the first two years (Oregon Health Authority, 2023). The failure was implementation, not the concept. Our proposal differs: we redirect enforcement budget directly to treatment (not waiting for cannabis tax revenue), mandate treatment on demand within 24 hours, and establish safe consumption sites. Oregon did none of these.

“What about the impact on neighborhoods near safe consumption sites?” Studies from Vancouver’s Insite (operating since 2003), Sydney’s MSIC, and European facilities consistently show: public drug use decreases near supervised consumption sites, discarded needles decrease, and crime does not increase (Potier et al., Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2014). Community opposition is typically highest before sites open and drops sharply after residents see actual results.

References

• Denver Office of the Medical Examiner. (2024). Annual Report: Unintentional Drug Poisoning Deaths in the City and County of Denver, 2023.
• CDC WONDER Database. Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts. (Fentanyl as leading cause of death ages 18-45.)
• SICAD (Portugal). (2023). Annual Report on Drug Use and Drug-Related Problems. (Portugal decriminalization outcomes.)
• Potier, C., et al. (2014). “Supervised injection services: what has been demonstrated?” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 145, 48-68. (Zero deaths in supervised consumption sites; 75 studies reviewed.)
• Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. Heroin-assisted treatment evaluation reports. (Switzerland HAT outcomes.)
• Oregon Health Authority. (2023). Measure 110 Implementation Report. (10% fund disbursement figure.)
• EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction). Annual European Drug Report. (EU comparative data.)
• National Drug Intelligence Center. (2011). The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society. ($193B/year cost estimate; $1T+ cumulative.)
• Vera Institute of Justice. (2022). The Price of Jails: Measuring the Taxpayer Cost of Local Incarceration. ($40K+/year incarceration cost.)
• NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Treatment cost-effectiveness data. ($4-8K/year treatment cost.)