New Jersey Governor Signs Good Samaritan Overdose Law
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Thursday signed into
law a measure that encourages people to report drug overdoses. The law
allows people to call 911 to report a drug overdose, without the fear of
getting arrested for drug possession themselves.
Governor Christie was joined by singer Jon Bon Jovi for the signing
of the law. Bon Jovi’s daughter overdosed at her college dorm in upstate
New York last year, but survived. Prosecutors dropped drug charges
against her and another student under that state’s Good Samaritan
overdose-reporting law, according to the Associated Press.
“What we now have is a comprehensive law we can all be proud of for
what it can achieve, the saving of a life to provide the opportunity for
individuals, their families, friends and those Good Samaritans involved
to reflect on their experience in a way that they probably would have
never reflected upon it before,” Christie said in a statement.
“A life saved from drug abuse can be a life restored. Families can be
spared the anguish of loss, a loss that could have been prevented.”
After signing the law, Governor Christie and Bon Jovi visited with patients at a drug rehabilitation center.
The governor rejected the Good Samaritan Emergency Response Act
last fall, saying it was too focused on reporting drug overdoses,
instead of deterrence. On Monday, he partially vetoed a bill that makes
the overdose antidote naloxone available to spouses, parents and
guardians of people addicted to opioid. They would be taught to
administer the drug in an emergency. He recommended that measure be
combined with the key components of the Good Samaritan bill that
protects witnesses and victims from arrest, charge, prosecution,
conviction, or revocation of parole or probation, where evidence is
obtained as a result of seeking medical assistance.
The state Senate and House both overwhelmingly approved the compromise bill.
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