Colorado Dems kill 'safe injection site' bill for drug users

Colorado Democrats concerned with enabling addiction have killed a "safe injection site" bill for drug users Wednesday evening. Gov. Polis voiced skepticism over the proposal.

Proponents argued that it's an imperative first step to prevent drug overdoses that killed an estimated 100,000 people nationwide in 2021, federal data show. The safe injection sites, also called "overdose prevention centers," offer a place where trained staff monitor people who bring and use their own drugs — such as methamphetamine and heroin — and who could reverse an overdose if necessary.

The policy is an about-face from federal government's long-waged war on drugs, and detractors said the centers would merely endorse and promote the use of illegal drugs and would be a magnet for ancillary crimes.

After last ditch efforts by the bill's sponsors to appease one of their Democratic colleagues on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, the bill was voted down in an unceremonious and brusque vote Wednesday.