COLORADO SRPINGS, Colo. — The film's director stresses, "We can do something about it." A Colorado-produced documentary takes a hard, in-depth look at the fentanyl crisis in our state.
WATCH: A check back in on Fentanyl data in Southern Colorado
Fentanyl was also mentioned as a major health issue in the 2023 El Paso County Community Health Assessment.
WATCH: Details of the El Paso County 2023 Community Health Assessment
With the financial backing of Weld County rancher Steve Wells, Mountain Time Media spent the past 18 months creating Devastated: Colorado's Fentanyl Disaster.
News5 spoke with the documentary's director, Steffan Tubbs. Below are excerpts from that interview:
"Putting this film together, the one thing that I had to do as a filmmaker was to give justice to the families, the family members that you know decided to talk with a complete stranger and talk about their most devastating moments of their lives. And the one thing that has never been lost on me and I think will stick with me the rest of my life is these families in Colorado wanted to share their stories in hopes that other Colorado families would never ever have to experience the grief that they've gone through."
"When you have children, they are your most precious asset. And my two sons are in their early 20s. And we focus on young teenagers that are never going to see their 21st birthday. And I think just as a concern Coloradan most certainly as a concerned father. So as a parent, I would just urge you, you don't even have to like the film, but have the discussion. And the one thing that I will always have with me from these parents is yeah, it may be a tough conversation to have. But you'd rather have the tough conversation than plan a funeral."
"We've got to crack down. And I will say... one of the leading prosecutors in the state of Colorado against the fentanyl epidemic, not thinking that the drug cartels are victims here, or drug dealers are victims, and that is Colorado's fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen... He understands it in the Colorado Springs area. The Fourth Judicial District, you all understand most of the prosecution's dealing with fentanyl and fentanyl-related deaths or death resulting cases as they call it. It's happening in Colorado Springs, we need to take that model, and we need to have it go coast to coast. This is not going away. The problem is only getting worse. And we can either all stand by and watch and go to another funeral in Colorado. Or we can do something about it."
The film premieres in Colorado Springs May 18. The premiere is sold out, but anyone interested in watching the film can watch it onlinefor free.
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