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A bill introduced Monday by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from using the powerful sedative ketamine during the arrest or detention of suspects.

The legislation comes on the heels of a Colorado bill to restrict use of the drug in law enforcement encounters. That bill, which awaits Gov. Jared Polis' signature, was in response to outrage over the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was injected with the drug while under arrest in Aurora.

Rep. Joe Neguse is introducing a bill that would ban the use of the sedative ketamine during arrests and detention.

Use of the drug in non-hospital settings has been under intense scrutiny after the death of Elijah McClain. Paramedics injected McClain with ketamine after Aurora police tried to arrest the young, black man. McClain went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. 

It was McClain’s death that drove Neguse to act. 

A few years ago, the U.S. Forest Service sat down with Eagle County officials and delivered some bad news: The federal agency was short-staffed and would be closing campgrounds in the mountainous county that includes Vail, where outdoor recreation is king.

Eagle County responded by spending its own tax dollars to pay USFS employees, an unusual arrangement that has become commonplace in Colorado’s high country, where waves of tourists have poured into some of the most-visited forests in the nation.

The SHRED Act appears to be aptly named. It made a rapid run through a U.S. House subcommittee hearing Tuesday and is primed for a full send in Congress.

And Rep. Joe Neguse says if the conditions are right, he’ll have the act at apres by the end of summer.

Short for Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development, Neguse said the SHRED Act is a response to the permitting needs and backlog that exists for improvement projects in the White River National Forest.