 Back when I first ran to be your Attorney General, I learned something shocking on a visit to Alamosa County, Friend. Over a pancake breakfast at the Campus Café, between bites of a (truly amazing) cinnamon roll, Sheriff Robert Jackson shared with me a stunning fact — that 90% of all inmates in the Alamosa County jail were struggling with opioid use disorder. And there were no treatment options in the whole San Luis Valley or anywhere nearby. When I retold what I had learned, it sounded unbelievable to many people. But then, this issue got the attention it deserved, and Colorado journalists began reporting about it. For me, doing nothing was not an option. With the San Luis Valley in mind, my office got to work. So far, we’ve recovered almost $900 million in settlement funds on behalf of Coloradans struggling with opioid addiction. And the way we’ve managed those funds is far more than just a win on paper; it’s meant a better life for many Coloradans — and saving lives. We made sure 90% of the settlement funds were spent at the local and regional level, so communities could get their needs met — without bottlenecks or barriers to addiction recovery, prevention, and treatment. That strategy worked — and I joined Sheriff Jackson in the summer of 2024 at the opening of the first drug treatment center in the San Luis Valley in a very long time. And, in 2024, Colorado saw a 30% reduction in fentanyl overdose deaths — that's 350 lives saved from avoided fentanyl overdose deaths alone. There’s so much more to do — and as our next governor, continuing to tackle our addiction crisis will be a top priority for me. Whether it’s building trust in government by publicly demonstrating how every settlement dollar is spent, or taking the Trump administration to court and winning when they try to illegally withhold federal dollars we need for investing in our public health, I’m taking action. As our next governor, I’ll keep delivering. Let’s get to work, Phil |
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