When the debate about the legalization of marijuana in Colorado took place, both Republican and Democrat advocates of the measure scoffed at the idea that this was a “gateway” law, and if pot was legalized, “why not heroin?” Well, here we are less than five years after the legalization of  recreational marijuana came to corner stores across the state, Colorado lawmakers are demanding legalized heroin injection sites, and California just passed a bill (that was vetoed by its governor) that could be used as a template for our state.

For sure, there is an opioid epidemic and these sites are presented as life-saving measures to prevent accidental overdoses. But do Coloradans really know what these so-called safe injection sites really look like? Fortunately, a reporter from San Francisco was kind enough to take viewers through a safe injection site prototype. Not gonna lie. It’s weird. Just watch.

In Denver, City Councilman Albus Brooks is leading the charge to create a “safe space” for heroin users.  Brooks’ advocacy for these sites, and his defiance of existing federal laws, goes right back to the marijuana legalization episode in Colorado – the one that its proponents said would never lead to the legalization of heroin.  “As you know, Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, which the federal government did not condone,” Brooks was quoted as saying in a Westword article earlier this month.

Earlier this year, Senate President Kevin Grantham was not supportive of this idea, so Democrats pulled their legislation that would have set the conditions for Brooks’ experiment in Denver.  Now that Democrats are in full control of both houses of the General Assembly, as well as the governor’s mansion, it is certain that a bill in support of “safe” injection sites will be introduced and probably voted on.

Will legalized heroin be just one of many Democratic overreaches in the next legislative session?