In February 2022, a relative making a welfare check found five people dead in an apartment in Commerce city, a grotesque and chilling illustration of the fentanyl crisis that was spiraling out of control in Colorado.

The drug — cheap, easy to make, offering a fleeting high at a fraction of the dose and cost of heroin — was everywhere. Colorado law enforcement agencies found voluminous amounts of the deadly substance on roadways, in homes, and in bodies.

And a state organization wants to know how the next mayor will tackle the crisis.

In Denver alone, 233 people died due to a fentanyl overdose last year, making up more than half of all drug related overdoses from last year, according to data from the Office of the Medical Examiner.

Rise Above Colorado, a group focused on measuring the effects of teen perceptions and attitudes about the risks of substance abuse, will host a forum among the mayoral candidates on March 16 in another effort to bring attention to the fentanyl crisis.

Ten of the candidates also responded to the group’s questionnaire, which sought answers to four specific queries, notably how they intend to respond to the deadly epidemic if elected as mayor and how they would keep the city’s youth safe from the drug.

“Fentanyl has created a public health epidemic that directly or indirectly impacts everyone in the community,” Kent MacLennan, executive director of Rise Above Colorado, said in a news release. “We all have a role to play in reducing its tragic death toll. Our goal is to give practical information that anyone can use to make a positive impact.”

The mayoral forum is part of the group’s campaign not only to keep policymakers’ focus on the deadly crisis but also to keep the discussion at the forefront in homes and at schools.

Under its “What is Our Plan?” campaign, the group offers several resources on its website, such as a video about how to talk to teenagers about fentanyl, citing research that, when they trust an adult to deal with challenges, they are less likely to engage in unhealthy behavior. Other resources include links to a smartphone app on recognizing overdoses and reversing it with naloxone.

A big part of the campaign is focused on educators and their role in steering young people away from substance abuse, such as lessons on the dangers of abusing prescription drugs.

MacLennan told The Denver Gazette that his group updated its lesson on prescription drug misuse to specifically include fentanyl, the goal of which is to drive home the point that any drug could contain the deadly substance.

“We encourage school communities to have a plan,” he said.

The group, which is promoting its online resources via social media, digital ads and billboards, has partnered with Boys and Girls Clubs in Colorado, the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, 5280 High School, and OpiRescue, the smartphone app, in pushing the dialogue on fentanyl to the forefront.

The fentanyl crisis placed Denver — indeed, the entire state — in its deadly grip, leaving a deadly wake that took the lives of young and old alike. The first fentanyl victim of 2022 was likely also the youngest — a one-year-old Brighton child who, according to her parents’ arrest affidavit, died from an ingestion of pure fentanyl. A teenager died in her Colorado Springs classroom, another collapsed in a Dairy Queen lobby, and two sisters overdosed from suspected fentanyl in their car.

Last year, fentanyl killed five children under 14, as well as a shy 15 year old.

The crisis compelled the Denver Police Department in February to repurpose its marijuana task force to focus on fentanyl. Meanwhile, state lawmakers scrambled in the last two years to respond, with some arguing for a more strident — zero tolerance — approach, while others emphasized intervention. That debate rages on, with lawmakers this year renewing conversations around allowing sites where individuals can access illegal drugs under supervisions, on the one hand, and pushing for a new Level 1 felony for peddling drugs — and not just fentanyl — that results in death, on the other hand.

The conversation also comes as libraries in the Denver Metro Area have temporarily shuttered operations due to meth contamination. Three Denver area libraries closed after meth contamination was first discovered in the Boulder Library at the end of December.

MacLennen said the group wants to encourage everyone to think about their role in preventing more deaths at home, in school or wherever is “most relevant to them.”

Rise Above Colorado said it has partnered with several organizations — including the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, 5280 High School and OpiRescue — to raise awareness of and encourage preparedness among individuals and communities.

The candidates’ responses to the group’s questionnaire can be found here: whatisourplan.org.