Giving Compass' Take:

• In addition to the opioid epidemic throughout Colorado, there is now an increase in meth-related deaths, and both health and government officials need to find better solutions for these drug-related issues. 

• What is an example of a comprehensive public health solution for opioids and meth? 

• Read about the role of catalytic philanthropy in public health crisis. 

Methamphetamine use made a deadly comeback in El Paso County and across Colorado last year while festering in the shadow of the nation's opioid epidemic.

The rise in meth deaths helped push Colorado's drug fatalities above 1,000 in 2017 for the first time on record -- hundreds more than the state's traffic death toll for the year.

But the trend comes as Colorado communities battle the epidemic of prescription painkillers and their illicit cousin, heroin, still the top cause of fatal overdoses in the state. Colorado had 560 opioid-related deaths last year, 92 of them in the county. So that epidemic has dominated headlines, public health work and lawmakers' time, from the statehouse in Denver to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

"You'd think we have no meth problem. We do, but it's been overshadowed by opioids," said Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.

"There's certainly a component of this that is a law enforcement issue, but this is overwhelmingly a public health issue," Kelly said. "And that's the way it needs to be treated. It needs to be treated like we treat infections and outbreaks, and allowing people to get help when they need it."

But the black market appears to have adapted, Gorman said. Cartels from Mexico appear to be supplying much of the meth sold in Colorado, leading to an increase in the drug's purity and a decrease in its price.

Gorman said the drug task force has been too overburdened responding to the opioid epidemic and illegal marijuana grows to battle meth. However, meth's resurgence comes as the opioid epidemic continues to worsen across Colorado.

Read the full article about meth in Colorado by Jakob Rodgers at Governing Magazine