{"id":30913,"date":"2023-10-31T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T22:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jared-polis-vows-to-veto-bill-authorizing-sites-where-people-could-use-illicit-drugs-and-be-revived-if-they-overdose\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:29:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:29:58","slug":"jared-polis-vows-to-veto-bill-authorizing-sites-where-people-could-use-illicit-drugs-and-be-reviv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jared-polis-vows-to-veto-bill-authorizing-sites-where-people-could-use-illicit-drugs-and-be-reviv\/","title":{"rendered":"Jared Polis vows to veto bill authorizing sites where people could use illicit drugs and be revived if they overdose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis makes a point before signing legislation that forces manufacturers to provide the necessary manuals, tools, parts and even software to farmers so they can fix their own machines, Tuesday, April 25, 2023, during a ceremony outside the State Capitol in downtown Denver. Polis vows to veto bill authorizing sites where people could use illicit drugs and be revived if they overdose. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/span>David Zalubowski<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A legislative interim committee Monday voted against advancing a bill authorizing the opening of a Denver center where people could openly use illicit drugs under the supervision of workers trained in reversing overdoses after Gov. Jared Polis vowed to veto the measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is opposed to these drug-use sites,\u201d Conor Cahill, a spokesman for the governor, said in a written statement.<\/p>\n

Cahill added \u201cthere is great uncertainty nationally about the role of the federal government and how they would enforce these sites that are already operating in other states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis, a Democrat, had previously been vague about his position on the proposal. The governor refused to take a public position on the sites as recently as last month, when he dodged a Colorado Sun question at SunFest about whether he could ever support legislation authorizing the centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do support efforts to end homelessness, reduce homelessness \u2013 make Colorado safer,\u201d Polis said. \u201cAnd we look forward to the state being a partner with our mayors in doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis\u2019 firm opposition effectively means the so-called overdose prevention centers, sometimes called harm reduction or safe-use sites, won\u2019t be allowed in Colorado until at least after his term ends in January 2027. The sites are also meant to provide counseling and access to substance abuse treatment services.<\/p>\n

The news of Polis\u2019 veto promise was announced Monday at an Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Study Committee before the panel voted against advancing a draft measure authorizing the centers to the full legislature for consideration. Interim panels, like the Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders Study Committee, operate when the full legislature isn\u2019t in session and are meant to more thoroughly draft and vet legislation but cannot send measures to the governor on their own.<\/p>\n

Two Democrats on the committee, Sen. Kyle Mullica and Rep. Mary Young, joined the four Republicans on the panel in voting against advancing the draft bill to the full legislature. Mullica cast one of the deciding voters earlier this year rejecting a similar measure in the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to be able to support this bill,\u201d said Mullica, who lives in Thornton. \u201cBut I really, truly appreciate the conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young, who lives in Greeley and represents a swing district, said her vote was in response to how her constituents perceive the bill.<\/p>\n

The vote to reject advancing the measure was six against and four in support.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, a Lakewood Democrat and chair of the interim committee, said he was \u201cincredibly disappointed\u201d that the draft bill, modeled after a law enacted in Rhode Island, wasn\u2019t going to move forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful for the very serious conversations that have happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Proponents of the measure can still introduce the bill in the legislature next year when state lawmakers reconvene from January through early May, but that now appears certain to draw a veto from Polis should the bill pass.<\/p>\n

Overriding a veto takes a supermajority of support from members of each the House and Senate, which the proposal almost certainly doesn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

governor\u2019s opposition effectively means the so-called overdose prevention centers won\u2019t be allowed in Colorado until at least after his term ends in January 2027<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,28,818,2638],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-headlines","tag-jared-polis","tag-opioids"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81249,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30913\/revisions\/81249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30913"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}