DENVER — Election Day is 38 days away at the time of writing, and there is a lot on the November Ballot.
For example, below is a sample ballot for Douglas County.
In total, the ballot is about four pages long, and while not every Colorado ballot will look exactly like DougCo's, every ballot will have various state Amendments and Propositions, including Prop 132.
Prop 132, if passed, would establish harsher penalties for the use and distribution of fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids.
Those penalties, if it were to pass, would make possession of any amount of fentanyl a felony, requiring a mandatory minimum prison sentence of eight years.
Watch Tyler Melito's report in the video player below:
If Prop 132 were not to pass, it would keep minor possession charges of fentanyl a misdemeanor and would maintain tiered felony penalties for distribution.
Fentanyl is no stranger to the American zeitgeist.
Colorado's Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) reported an almost 30% increase in fentanyl overdose deaths in Colorado from 2024 to 2025.
During the same time period, the CDC reported fentanyl overdose deaths dropped by a little more than 22%.
In 2023, Colorado mother Tricia Otto lost her son to a fentanyl overdose.
"My son was a football player for a good portion of his life, all the way through freshman in high school; he had an injury in a football camp," Otto detailed to Denver7's Tyler Melito. "Then they prescribed him oxycodone, and it was kind of just a nightmare from there."
Otto told Melito that even she did not know the path her son's addiction led him down.
"My son tried to commit suicide ... and we called the police, and they came over, and they found a immense pile of little black plastic bags behind his bed, and that's when I learned that he was using heroin," Otto recalled.
Otto added that he tried to buy other drugs like Percocet and Xanax, which led her to try to get him some help.
"He just had no motivation," Otto said. "He didn't want to go to school anymore. You know, he couldn't play football —he lost his whole community. We ultimately got him into inpatient adolescent program with Rapid House, which was supposed to be a six-month program. The 21st day, they called me and said my insurance would no longer cover him, and that it would cost me $800 a day for him to stay."
She shared how her son's death still impacts her and her family.
"I had 14 years of trauma prior to my son dying that I never had time to process because I was so busy trying to do whatever I could to help my son," Otto explained. "I have two other children, and one of them doesn't want to talk about it at all, and the other one has completely changed her career path to where she is now working with people who are unhoused and suffering with substance use."
Otto also expressed her support for Prop 132, citing how if the rules under Prop 132 existed prior to her son's death, he'd probably still be alive.
"I would rather have my son be a felon and be alive," Otto said. "If my son was here, that is a problem and a hurdle. That is something that we could work through. I cannot bring my son back. "It's only going to get worse if we don't do something to send a message that we are no longer going to tolerate people killing our children for profit."
Another supporter of Prop 132 is 23rd Judicial District DA George Brauchler.
Brauchler believes Colorado's Legislature has become too offender-friendly, and Prop 132 would tighten the rules.
"If you're going to go out there and peddle this poison or be reckless about the pills you put into the public stream without knowing whether it has fentanyl in it or not, oh yeah, you're signing up for potential prison," Brauchler told Melito.
Brauchler added that Prop 132 would give prosecutors more tools at their disposal.
"Most judges just send them right back out on the door with very little accountability and no repercussions for failing to complete treatment," Brauchler said. "This proposition says, 'Enough.'"
But there are detractors to Prop 132, including 20th Judicial District DA Michael Dougherty.
Despite supporting legislation in 2022 that strengthened the laws around fentanyl, Dougherty said he believes Prop 132 brings an extra burden.
"My concern is that Prop 132 calls for more drug treatment and drug treatment courts, and I think everyone supports that, but without a single dollar of funding attached to the ballot measure, that's hollow," Dougherty shared with Melito.
Dougherty added his concerns for what Prop 132 could mean for local prisons.
"I also want to make sure people with struggling addiction aren't just cycling in and out of the jails over and over and over again," Dougherty explained.
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