Just over three weeks ago, our group of GW public health students completed a needs assessment focusing on drug-overdose in Washington, DC. What we discovered was astounding. In DC, an average of two people die every week from drug-related overdose. Furthermore, in 2009, accidental overdose in DC lead to 50% more deaths than car accidents. Drug-use in the District of Columbia expands across all wards and every socio-economic group, affecting all races and a wide range of age groups. In a 2009 report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), researchers found that “drug and alcohol abuse rates are higher in the District of Columbia than anywhere else in the country” (SAMHSA, 2011). These numbers demonstrate an urgent need for action. With so many susceptible individuals and a significant amount of mortality from drug overdose, it is clear something needs to be done in order to save lives.
The laws surrounding drug-use in DC are complex and the issue of drug-use itself is even more complicated. Ultimately, however, fear of prosecution, which is cited as the main reason individuals do not access emergency services for drug overdose, vastly increases drug-related mortality. The Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act hopes to change this.
Our goal with the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act is simply to prevent death from drug-related overdose. Our team is proposing to draft and pass The Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act for DC. As it now stands in DC and in most states, people who dial 911, drop a friend off at a hospital, or otherwise try to get care for someone in the midst of a drug overdose are subject to prosecution for use and possession of drugs. New Mexico was the first state to address the most common barrier to seeking care—fear of criminal persecution-- and passed the Overdose Prevention- Limited Immunity Act, effective June 2007.
To date, The Good Samaritan Act exists in eight states. After evaluating each state’s law, we will be modeling DC’s proposed legislation after the following states: New York, Washington State, and Connecticut. Because DC legislature has been very supportive of harm reduction laws in the past, such as needle exchange and medicinal marijuana, we will be striving to create the model Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Law for the United States and include provisions that other states failed to pass.
Our proposed bill will include each of the following provisions:
(NOTE: We are just passing the drafting phase currently. We hope to work with multiple community partners in designing this bill and want to gather support from all individuals, including law enforcement, health care providers, etc.)
- Legal protection from arrest, charge and prosecution for the following:
- Possession of drugs (including prescribed narcotics that are scheduled under DC Code and underage alcohol at the scene of an overdose)
- Possession of any drug paraphernalia, such as syringes at the scene of an overdose
- Possession of drug residue. DC Code states that drug residue can lead to arrest
- Sharing drugs at the scene of an overdose (whether for compensation or as a gift)
- Outstanding warrants, including bench warrants, stemming from the same conduct that is protected at the scene of an overdose (i.e. a warrant for failing to appear in court for a drug or paraphernalia possession charge, or underage alcohol consumption, or a warrant for failure to comply with community supervision requirements, such as missing an appointment). This does not mean that the Good Samaritan or overdose victim would be protected from violent crime; only persons with warrants involving non-violent or drug possession charges would be protected.
- Legal protection for good faith peer administration of naloxone
- Legal protection to any persons, including all health care workers, who administer naloxone to an individual experiencing an overdose and immunity from liability for practitioners who prescribe naloxone.
Naloxone is an opoid antagonist and serves to reverse the effects of opoids, such as heroin and some prescription pain medications. Washington State, New York and Connecticut have protections for both medical personnel and “Good Samaritans” who administer naloxone in good faith. Additionally, New York’s law directs the state commissioner to publish findings on statewide opioid overdose death and emergency room data that shall include, at a minimum, the following data: (a) information on opioid overdose deaths, including age, gender, ethnicity, and geographic location; (b) data on emergency room utilization for the treatment of opioid overdose; (c) data on utilization of pre-hospital services; (d) suggested improvements in data collection (Laws of New York, Article 33, Title 1, Sec. 3309). We will include this data collection piece to our legislation to assist with the future evaluation of DC’s Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act.
If we are successful in passing the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act, we will continue working with our coalition of substance abuse service providers to build a partnership with DC’s Health Department, specifically with the Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration (APRA). Using their resources and the community partnerships in the coalition, we will work together on a health communication piece to educate the community about the Good Samaritan legislation. To that end, we would propose this project to the George Washington Public Health Communication and Marketing Department as a possible Culminating Experience opportunity.
Finally, we hope to work with the coalition and DC’s Health Department on a health promotion component of the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act. We will work with our community partners to create a Good Samaritan Resource guide that identifies in several languages including brail, by neighborhood and Ward, a substance abuse organization and community outreach worker who is available to meet with the overdose victim or “Good Samaritan”. As mentioned before, it is challenging to build relationships and trust among substance abusers, but with the support of several community organizations and the DC City Council the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act will save two lives a week and be a bridge to establishing a foundation of trust for this vulnerable population.
If you have any questions about the DC Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act or you would like to get involved, please e-mail us at StopODinDC@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @StopODinDC
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