Backers Push Good Samaritan Law to Save Drug Users

Good Samaritan laws are designed to make sure people who OD on drugs get help. The idea is to shield callers to 911 who report someone in trouble from getting arrested themselves, Newsweek reports in a look at the push for the laws. So far, Washington state and New Mexico have the legislation in place, and California, New York, and Massachusetts are considering it.

Backing up proponents' arguments is a slew of cases from around the nation in which people were left to die because their companions were afraid to call police. “These laws are designed to do no more than get that panicking person to the phone as quickly as possible and try to save a life,” says one advocate. Illinois rejected a similar law after opponents depicted it as soft on crime.
(More Good Samaritan stories.)