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Health Equity Colorado

Are Legacy drug policies barriers to health Equity? Yes.
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Colorado has twice the national average in alcohol deaths and $5 billion a year in public health impact from alcohol use. This site, under construction, features evidence- and data-driven investigative graduate research into the intersectionality of alcohol supremacy and ruling caste privileges that dominate Colorado’s legislative, medical, economic and cultural narratives.

Colorado’s alcohol death rates have been rising since 2005 and there is still no safe and equitable pathway for survivor voices of alcohol driven harms — even though big-pharma was sued for “knowingly promoting an addictive drug” onto citizens. There is nothing equitable about Colorado’s drug policies. This collection of research data is the result of a multi-year focus on alcohol drug policy as legacy barriers to health equity. What began as one simple question in January 2024: How will lawmakers respond to the 60% rise in alcohol deaths? I entered a world of caste privilege, power, exploitation, dependency and supremacy. The findings were — and still are — quite clear.

Recent Posts

  • Women with mental illness incarcerated at twice the rate of men in Colorado

    Women with mental illness incarcerated at twice the rate of men in Colorado

    According to Colorado Dept. Of Corrections reports on incarcerated Coloradans with substance use and mental disorders at time of admission:

    41% of men with mental illness

    88% of women with mental illness

    When I saw the actual numbers, I was disappointed but not surprised. Colorado ranks near the bottom for access to health care and mental health care. And this in a Democrat majority held legislature and executive branch. Curious.

    Lawmakers prioritize alcohol over healthcare time and time again as you will see when I start to roll out more of the findings as I build out this site, which I hope will serve as a valuable resource for policy researchers and lawmakers who are serious about moving to health equity instead of just talking about it — or working against it as I learned real quick as conflict after conflict arose. The percentages of men and women incarcerated with substance use issues:

    80% of men

    78% of women

    Addiction is a health care issue. Either all these sick people are in the wrong place or our state is funding the wrong institutions while our rural hospitals and clinics continue to struggle for funding and recruitment of health care professionals.

    I learned too that a large number of the women are coming out of the Colorado Springs and Pueblo area.

    ——-

    Many thanks to the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition for their help in locating this data.

  • Colorado is #41 for access to mental health care

    Colorado is #41 for access to mental health care

    According to Mental Health America’s 2025 statistical reports, Colorado ranks #41 out of 50 states for citizen access to mental health care (source link below). Further research indicates that ranking is primarily the result of lack of funding for mental health care in the state. Lawmakers can justify Colorado’s second lowest alcohol taxes in the nation, but struggle to find funding to increase access to mental health care.

    I’ve often wondered if lawmaker intent is that all the Coloradans with mental health issues are supposed to just drink themselves to death since we now have twice the national average in alcohol deaths and very little access to mental health care. These types of contradictions nearly always raise more questions than answers.

    Ranking the States
    Link to Mental Health America rankings by state for 2025

  • Colorado alcohol deaths are twice the national average

    Colorado alcohol deaths are twice the national average

    When alcohol deaths rose 60% in Colorado as reported by the Denver Post early January 2024, I wondered how lawmakers would respond to such a dramatic rise in deaths considering only a few years prior when it was opioids, they mobilized in force against it.

    As a retiree and graduate student in the Master of Public Policy program at University of Colorado (Denver) at the time, that one question of “how will lawmakers respond to the 60% rise in alcohol deaths” would lead me on an immersive investigative journey into caste privilege, alcohol supremacy, racism, favoritism and state dependency on the exploitation of vulnerable populations. And that Colorado’s legacy alcohol policies are the biggest barriers to health equity in our state — weirdly and ironically led by Democrats.

    I’ve created this website, Health Equity Colorado, as a repository for research findings, questions, resources and data. It’s a work in progress. Thank you for visiting!

Health Equity Colorado

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