Drug Overdoses in Boulder (Fatal and Non-Fatal) — 2023
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👉 Drug Overdoses in Boulder (Fatal and Non‑Fatal) — 2023
About this report
This report documents both fatal and non-fatal drug overdose incidents occurring in Boulder, Colorado during 2023 using publicly available information including police and emergency radio traffic, police reports, court records, coroner findings, media coverage, and other public-safety sources.
The archive was created to preserve a structured historical record of overdose-related emergency activity occurring throughout Boulder during a period of rapidly increasing fentanyl prevalence and escalating overdose responses across Colorado and the United States.
Incidents documented here include both confirmed fatal overdoses and non-fatal emergency responses involving suspected opioid poisonings, fentanyl use, naloxone administration, unconscious individuals, public medical emergencies, and other overdose-related incidents encountered by police, fire, and EMS personnel.
The report attempts to preserve not only individual incidents, but also broader patterns affecting Boulder during 2023, including repeated overdose locations, public-space medical emergencies, encampment-related overdose activity, and the increasing visibility of fentanyl-related incidents throughout the community.
Why this report exists
Overdose incidents are often documented only briefly through emergency dispatches, short media reports, fragmented public-records systems, or temporary online datasets that later disappear from public access.
This archive was created to preserve a searchable public-interest record of overdose activity occurring in Boulder over time while documenting broader public-safety and public-health trends that may otherwise become difficult to reconstruct historically.
In many cases, incidents included here involved significant emergency-service responses occurring in parks, sidewalks, businesses, encampments, apartment complexes, parking areas, and other publicly accessible locations throughout Boulder.
The report is not intended to sensationalize addiction, homelessness, or mental-health crises. Rather, its purpose is to document and preserve a factual historical record of overdose-related emergency activity occurring within the Boulder community during 2023.
Important notes regarding sources and methodology
Some incidents included in this archive were initially identified through real-time police, fire, and EMS scanner traffic that was publicly accessible at the time.
Scanner traffic reflects information as initially reported to dispatchers and responding personnel during unfolding emergency situations and may later prove incomplete or inaccurate.
Descriptions included here generally reflect reported incidents and emergency responses rather than adjudicated findings or formal determinations regarding cause of death.
Whenever possible, incidents were supplemented or cross-referenced using publicly available police reports, coroner findings, court records, media reporting, or other official documentation.
The Boulder Police Department encrypted routine dispatch traffic in October 2025, substantially reducing the public’s ability to independently document overdose-related emergency activity in real time going forward.
Topics covered
This report includes incidents and trends involving:
- fatal overdoses,
- non-fatal overdoses,
- fentanyl poisonings,
- naloxone administration,
- unconscious individuals,
- overdose responses in public spaces,
- repeated overdose locations,
- emergency medical responses,
- encampment-related overdose incidents,
- and related public-safety activity occurring throughout Boulder during 2023.
The report is intended both as a historical archive and as a broader documentation of evolving overdose patterns affecting the Boulder community.
Related reports
Additional Boulder Public Safety Project reports and archives are available through the main reports index.
Related reports include:
- Fatal Drug Overdoses in Boulder Public Spaces — 2025
- Crime in Boulder — 2025
- Boulder Fires & Arsons
- Bicycle Theft Reports
- Scanner clips archive
- Historical police blotter archives
Boulder Public Safety 