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MP Pitches Bill Granting Amnesty to Drug Users Reporting Overdose

Fear of possession charges preventing people from calling 911, says Tri City MP.

Jeremy Nuttall 22 Feb 2016TheTyee.ca

Jeremy J. Nuttall is The Tyee's Parliament Hill reporter in Ottawa. Find his previous stories here.

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A British Columbia Member of Parliament is introducing a private members bill that would grant amnesty to people who call for medical help for overdose.

Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam MP Ron McKinnon said fears of being arrested on drug charges stop people from acting responsibly and calling for help when someone is having a drug overdose.

McKinnon is expected to introduce the Good Samaritan Overdose Law in Parliament today. The bill would exempt 911 callers from possession charges related to an overdose incident.

Lives saved could include those of teenagers at a party as well as regular drug users in places like Vancouver's Downtown Eastside who are reluctant to call 911 when someone is overdosing, he said.

"[Drug users] might try to take matters into their own hands because they've been consuming drugs and they might have drugs in their possession," he said. "So they don't make the call."

In an overdose situation time is of the essence if someone's life is to be saved, he said.

A report from the B.C. Coroners Service says there were 465 overdose deaths in that province in 2015, an increase of 27 per cent compared to 2014. Children as young as 10 are among the dead.

'We want to keep people alive': MP

A study cited by McKinnon from the National Conference on State Legislatures in United States argues such good Samaritan laws decrease the number of these deaths and says 34 states have already adopted such laws.

They vary in how they are written but many stipulate the call needs to be made in good faith.

"Other requirements frequently include remaining on scene until help arrives and cooperating with emergency personnel when they arrive," explains the study. "Some laws also specify that immunity for covered offenses is not grounds for suppression of evidence of other crimes."

McKinnon's bill would only include amnesty from possession and not trafficking or impaired driving.

He expects some critics to argue the law enables drug use, but said that's a misguided view because it "enables life" and can offer the chance for users to confront their drug use in other ways.

"You can't really learn much of a lesson from dying," he said. "The bottom line is we want to keep people alive."

He said he expects the bill to have broad support from his own Liberal Party as well as the New Democrats, even expecting some support from the Conservatives.  [Tyee]

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