A new walk-in clinic in Denver's Hale neighborhood is now offering same-day treatment for fentanyl addiction, with no appointment, insurance, or prior sobriety required to walk through the door. WellPower's Medication-Aided Treatment clinic, located at 4455 E. 12th Ave., sees roughly six patients a week during its Wednesday hours, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The nonprofit launched the low-barrier program as opioid overdose deaths climb again across Denver and Colorado, even as fatal overdoses have been falling nationally.
Denverite first told the story of the clinic's opening through Nicole, a Denver woman identified only by her first name because of concerns about how her recovery might affect future employment. She started using heroin at 19 while trying to help her boyfriend quit, and continued using heroin and later fentanyl for nearly 15 years. Nicole attempted suicide in 2021, and her hospitalization afterward at Centennial Peaks connected her to WellPower.
Before finding the clinic, Nicole had bought Suboxone on the street while traveling away from home and had endured long lines at a methadone clinic just to get treatment locally. She has said the medications eliminated her urge to use almost immediately once she started, and that people have to want to change their lives for treatment to actually work.
Peer Support, Test Strips and a Harm-Reduction Approach
The Medication Aided Treatment clinic pairs patients with peer specialists, nurses and pharmacists, and it employs a nonjudgmental, harm-reduction approach rather than demanding abstinence up front. Jud Felder has said people do not have to quit all substance use before seeking help there. The clinic also hands out fentanyl test strips and naloxone nasal spray, along with instruction on how to use naloxone during an overdose, and can be reached directly at 303-504-7700.
Suboxone and Sublocade are both based on buprenorphine, and eligible patients can receive either the daily strip medication or the monthly injection. Denise Hosier has said most people can begin Suboxone titration after about 24 hours of withdrawal, since treatment requires patients to stop using opioids long enough to enter withdrawal first. WellPower also treats opioid use in people who haven't stopped using other substances, and the clinic serves patients regardless of insurance status.
Denver's Numbers Buck the National Decline
Fatal fentanyl overdoses in Denver rose nearly 25% in 2025, to 346 deaths from 277 the year before, according to preliminary city health department data reported by the Denver Gazette. Statewide, synthetic opioid overdose deaths rose from 803 in November 2024 to 957 by August 2025, reversing a downward trend seen nationally, per a March 2026 study from the Common Sense Institute.
Colorado recorded 1,610 total drug overdose deaths in 2024, an overdose death rate of 27.0 per 100,000 residents, marking the fourth-highest annual rate in state history, according to USAFacts. WellPower itself traces back to 1989, when it launched as the Mental Health Corporation of Denver before rebranding in May 2022, as reported by Colorado Politics, and the nonprofit funds the clinic through Medicaid, grants and individual donations.
Regulatory Shifts That Made Walk-In Care Possible
The clinic's walk-in model is possible in part because of federal changes that eliminated red tape once faced by prescribers. Congress scrapped the DEA's X-waiver requirement under the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act in December 2022, removing the patient caps and dedicated training that used to limit which practitioners could prescribe buprenorphine, according to Quarles & Brady LLP.
In February 2025, the FDA approved label updates for Sublocade that shortened the mandatory induction period to a single dose and a one-hour observation window, according to HCPLive. The FDA first approved Sublocade in November 2017 as the first once-monthly extended-release buprenorphine injection for opioid use disorder, according to Indivior PLC, the drug's manufacturer.
Can Six Patients a Week Keep Up With Demand?
WellPower says it plans to expand the clinic's hours beyond its single weekly Wednesday session. Whether that growth can keep pace with Denver's rising death toll remains an open question, given how far demand for treatment appears to outstrip the clinic's current weekly capacity.
Gaps persist elsewhere in the system, too. A policy surveillance study published in July 2026 found that only 46% of Colorado county jails with public policies offered all three FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder despite state mandates, according to a study posted to ResearchGate. Buprenorphine was the most common medication offered in those jails, leaving open questions about whether Denver's newest walk-in option can bridge the gap for people cycling out of custody as fentanyl deaths climb — a trend Hoodline has tracked in Denver's fentanyl death surge.
