Colorado | NonOpioidChoices

State Facts

1,050

Deaths, or 63.6% of all overdose deaths in the year ending April 2025 involved opioids.¹

926,893

Claims, or 4.8% of all Medicare Part D claims were for opioids in 2023 – over 39 claims per prescriber.²

32.4

Opioid Prescriptions were written for every 100 persons in Colorado in 2023.³

$55.8 Billion

the estimated total societal cost of opioid use disorder (OUD) in Colorado in 2024.⁴

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Opioid Settlement Funds

$717,665,250.57

State Spending Recommendation

The Colorado Opioid Abatement Council (COAC) works with the 19 Regional Opioid Abatement Councils to distribute opioid settlement funds for substance use disorder treatment, recovery, harm reduction, law enforcement, and prevention/education programs.

See the Colorado’s Opioid Settlement Funds Dashboard HERE

Member & Endorser Footprint

Voices is backed by a broad coalition of organizations across the state united by a shared goal: ensuring patients have access to safe, effective,  and individualized pain management throughout the continuum of care.

Co-Sponsors (119th)

Sen. Michael Bennet

Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO-07)

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Medicare Part D Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool. https://cms-oeda.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=5390718d875d4c049b1ac5976a9ff083

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Opioid Dispensing Rate Maps. https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/data-research/facts-stats/opioid-dispensing-rate-maps.html

4. Avalere Health (2025). The cost of addiction: Opioid use disorder in the United States. https://advisory.avalerehealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Avalere-Health-White-Paper_The-cost-of-opioid-addiction_OUD-in-the-United-States.pdf