Denver voted for high-quality mental and addiction care, but millions have gone to unlicensed providers with limited transparency

Colorado Public Radio: The campaign’s premise was simple: For nothing more than a modest sales tax increase, Denver could create a $45 million-a-year stream of grants to nonprofit mental health and drug treatment programs.

“This initiative will give us the capacity to get everybody who needs help into a place where they can get the help that they need,” said Dr. Carl Clark, the president and CEO of WellPower, a large Denver community mental health provider. 

“It’s the type of thing that is a gamechanger.”

Voters enthusiastically bought into the concept. And after six years and more than $170 million in tax dollars granted, a year-long review by CPR News found that the game has indeed changed, but perhaps not in the ways supporters and voters envisioned.

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