Legislation to help save lives and prevent drug overdoses prime-sponsored by Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Hamilton) along with Assembly members Wagner, Lampitt, Giblin, Chivukula, Fuentes, Gusciora and Senators Vitale, Codey and Weinberg has officially been signed into law.
The measure (S-2082) incorporates components of both the “Opioid Antidote and Overdose Prevention Act” (A-3095) and the “Good Samaritan Act” (A-578).
The new law will provide immunity for witnesses and victims of drug overdoses and provide civil, criminal, and professional immunity for health care professionals involved in prescribing, dispensing, or administering naloxone or any similarly acting, FDA-approved drug for the treatment of an opioid overdose.
By incorporating the components of the Good Samaritan Act, the law will protect a person from arrest, charge, prosecution, or conviction if, in good faith, they seek medical assistance for someone experiencing a drug overdose and the evidence for the offense was obtained as a result of the person’s efforts to obtain the medical assistance. The same immunity will also apply for a victim of a drug overdose who sought medical assistance or was the subject of a good faith request for such assistance.
By including the Opioid Antidote and Overdose Prevention Act, the lawmakers note that naloxone is an inexpensive and easily administered antidote for an overdose of opioids such as morphine, heroin, OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin. Specifically, naloxone is used to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system, allowing an overdose victim to breathe normally.
