Pols Back Bill Protecting 911 Calls in Drug Overdoses

Members of the Suffolk County Legislature are supporting a proposed state law they believe would save lives in the cases of drug overdoses. At a press conference on Wednesday, Legislator Lynne Nowick and her colleagues announced their support for a "Good Samaritan Law" that would create amnesty in a situation where 911 is called in regard to a drug or alcohol overdose.

Although the measure is a matter for the New York State Legislature to consider, members of the Suffolk's lawmaking body are pushing for it since they said it will greatly help their constituents on Long Island, which is facing a widely publicized heroin epidemic.

According to Nowick, in 2009, there were 225 drug overdose/drug related deaths in Suffolk County.

"Too often, good kids die when a simple call to 911 would have saved them. We can't prosecute someone for not calling 911, but we can take away the fear of prosecution for calling for help," she said. "We don't want to give amnesty to drug pushers. That's not what it's about. It's about saving a life."

The purpose of the proposed law is to encourage a witness or victim of a drug or alcohol-related overdose to call 911 in order to save a life by protecting witnesses or the victim from arrest, charge or prosecution for drug possession, drug paraphernalia possession and certain alcohol-related offenses.

The proposed law has passed the New York State Assembly, but has yet to pass the New York State Senate. Senator Tom Duane of Manhattan is sponsoring the measure in the senate.

In Commack, the Commack Coalition of Caring (CCC) was formed about six years ago to combat substance use and abuse. It is comprised of parents, school professionals, substance abuse experts and community leaders.

Debbie Virga from the CCC was at the press conference to lend her support to the proposed measure.

"Ultimately, our goal is to save the lives of children. I believe that this could help that," she said, adding that it's important for people not to be afraid of prosecution when calling for help for a drug overdose or possible drug overdose. "That's the key."

"Most people don't know that an overdose takes up to three hours to happen. When somebody passes out, they don't die right away. Those three hours are an opportunity to be saved with the right kind of medical intervention. All too often, people get left alone at that time," said Pamela Mizzi, director of the Prevention Resource Center at South Oaks Hospital, who works closely with CCC.

Heroin use among young people has been described by some as a major problem Long Island, one that is not exclusive to only some of the island's communities.

"I can to speak to Commack. Through our surveys and through our focus groups, heroin is not a major problem in our community. We have some of the other issues though — underage drinking, marijuana, prescription drugs. Those are things we have to focus on," Virga said. "It's not just heroin overdoses. You can overdose from alcohol poisoning. Call somebody, call 911."