Proposition 132 Trades Compassion for Control

In an opinion piece featured in the Colorado Sun in 2025, Vincent Atchity, president and CEO of Mental Health Colorado, and José Esquibel, former vice chair of the Colorado Substance Abuse Trend and Response Task Force, said: “The research is clear. Harsh penalties haven’t protected our communities from the dangers of fentanyl. They have only compounded harm and pushed people deeper into the shadows, making it harder to seek help, and saddling individuals with felony records that create lifelong barriers to employment, housing and recovery.”

Far from compassion and closer to control, Prop. 132 would not only work against its own intentions of reducing fentanyl-related crime and deaths, but it would also substantially exhaust the already strained financial and physical resources allocated to Colorado’s prison system. Masking incarceration under the veil of treatment, Prop. 132 was designed to appeal to our emotional connection to the idea of rehabilitation, while maintaining an alternative objective that will eventually lead to isolation of those most in need of help. Though fentanyl itself remains a threat with dire consequences, strict penalties and mandatory sentences without regard to circumstance will only escalate its tragic impact on Colorado residents.