Colorado's Fentanyl Deaths Climbed While the Nation's Fell. Voters Chose Tougher Penalties, and Weiser Should Let Them Stand

Colorado voters were asked a plain question this month: should the state get tougher on fentanyl? They said yes. Within days, the man they elected governor was already talking about changing what they passed.

Proposition 132 makes possession of any amount of fentanyl a felony and sends anyone convicted of distributing it to prison for a mandatory term, regardless of the amount, CBS Colorado reported in its review of the measure. Under current law, only those convicted of selling more than 50 grams face mandatory prison time. The measure was brought by the conservative group Advance Colorado, and voters approved it on Nov. 3.

Gov.-elect Phil Weiser and Democrats in the legislature have said they are already discussing how to tweak Proposition 132 and several other ballot measures, The Colorado Sun reported. KUNC reported that the conversations reach the voter-approved measures on fentanyl and on transgender youth. Weiser has said some of the new laws may need adjustments before they take effect, and Democrats, who will hold large majorities in both chambers, argue some of the measures need more policymaking to work as intended.

Opponents of Proposition 132 have a sincere argument too. Some families and advocates told reporters during the campaign that punishing people for possession will not cure addiction, though many said they support holding dealers accountable. That debate deserved a hearing, and it got one. Voters heard it and made their choice.

The case for the measure was never abstract. Preliminary figures from the state health department counted about 1,005 deaths from synthetic opioids in 2025, with fentanyl the main killer, up from 852 in 2024, Colorado Politics reported. A study the outlet cited found Colorado's synthetic-opioid death rate rose about 17 percent even as the national rate fell by roughly a fifth. In other words, while much of America began to turn the corner, Colorado went the wrong way.

When voters see a policy failing in their own neighborhoods, they have every right to change it themselves.

Colorado's constitution is clear about who holds that right. Article V reserves to the people the power to propose laws and to enact or reject them at the polls, independent of the General Assembly. Coloradans added that power to their constitution more than a century ago so that citizens could act when their legislature would not.

To be fair, the same article does not strip lawmakers of the power to pass laws of their own, and the legislature can amend a statute that voters adopt. Cleaning up a drafting error or setting up a funding mechanism is legitimate. But rewriting the substance of a measure the voters approved, weeks after they approved it, is a different thing. It tells voters that their ballot was a suggestion.

Weiser won a big mandate, and Democrats won supermajorities. Those victories give them the power to govern. They do not give them a veto over decisions the voters made on the same ballot.

Colorado House Republicans have called on Weiser to enforce all four conservative measures voters approved: the fentanyl penalties, tougher punishment for trafficking a minor for sex, and the two measures on girls' sports and surgeries for minors, The Center Square reported. They are asking a simple thing: that the incoming governor carry out the law as written.

Advance Colorado, the group that put Proposition 132 on the ballot, will be watching too, as will the families who have lost loved ones to this drug, when the legislature returns in January.

The real test comes when the General Assembly convenes and the first bills touching these measures are filed. Coloradans should watch for one thing: whether any so-called adjustment softens the penalties voters chose. A technical fix is fine. A quiet rollback is not.

The voters have spoken on fentanyl. With more than a thousand Coloradans lost in a single year, the least their leaders can do is let the law the people chose do its work.