Last year, the United States tackled a
deadly epidemic that made its way into the nation’s borders; however, the nation
looked past a preexisting threat that has killed more people in the past few
years than ever before in history. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention concluded
that the deadly drug, heroin, has killed more people recently than in previous
years; 43,000 people per year, to be exact. To give this number more meaning, the father of a young man who died of an
overdose found that this
number is fourteen times the number of people who died in the September 11th
attacks, and it means that in a twenty-month period, heroin will claim more
lives than the Vietnam War did in its entirety.
National figures show an increase in deaths by thirty-nine percent, and
over 2,000 more lives claimed in 2013 than in 2012. The drug has also claimed more lives than violent crimes and automobile accidents. Moreover, this is the fifteenth year in a row that the number of
heroin-related deaths has risen.
Recognizing heroin to be a state and
local problem affecting communities all around the country, former Attorney General Eric Holder urged police and other first responders
to carry the drug naloxone; a drug that helps resuscitate victims from what
could be an overdose resulting in death.
This measure alone would not bring down the increase in heroin-related
fatalities because the naloxone serves no purpose if help never reaches the
victim. As a result, last year twenty
states, including Maryland and the District of Columbia, passed “Good
Samaritan” laws giving drug users some criminal immunity if they seek help for
a friend who has overdosed. The friend
would have to stay until law enforcement arrives and then identity themselves. However,
the law seeks to encourage people to get help and eliminate the fear of being
incriminated.
The state of Maryland actively addressed
the severity of the problem, as Maryland’s own Baltimore County was labeled “heroin
capital of the United States.” In 2013, Maryland lawmakers passed legislation allowing first
responders and law enforcement to carry and administer naloxone to victims of
overdose, a measure Attorney General Holder endorsed. U.S. Attorney for Maryland, Rob Rosenstein,
reported a double in the state’s heroin deaths in the past three years. While the state’s murder rate has fallen,
heroin deaths are at record highs. “We had 10 people on average, die of
heroin doses every week in Maryland last year,” said Rosenstein.
State’s Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland, John McCarthy echoed,
saying “[t]he numbers that we are looking at are
terrifying.” Both prosecutors reported that heroin-related
deaths jumped eighty-eight percent from 2011 to 2013, and another forty-six
percent in the first half of 2014 alone.
In December 2014, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan responded by declaring a
“state of emergency” in what he called a “war on heroin.”
Governor Hogan called the increased usage of heroin “an epidemic.” In May 2014, the state enacted its own Good
Samaritan law in an effort to fight this war.
Virginia took a similar approach. In addition to expanding the use of naloxone, Virginia Attorney General Herring and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe urged lawmakers to increase criminal
penalties for drug dealers who supply lethal doses of the drug and offer limited criminal immunity to those who seek
help for others who have overdosed. Virginia
Attorney General Herring explained that this “safe reporting” law
“would encourage [people] to pick up the phone and call for help … [t]he goal
of [the] bill is to save lives.” Herring
added that the 2013 death of a Fairfax County teen “underscored the need for the measure.”
The teen’s body was found in a wooded area after she was given a fatal
dose of heroin; out of distress, the man she was with never called for help. Virginia’s
“limited” immunity means that a drug user who calls law
enforcement to get help for an overdosing friend can only cite the Good
Samaritan law as a defense if prosecuted; however, the law would not grant
immunity. Among these actions, Governor
McAuliffe also endorsed a bill that would make delivering a fatal dose of any
illegal drug a second-degree murder offense; this charge is currently a federal
offense only, and so making it a state-level offense would encourage more state
monitoring and participation in tackling the problem.
The Good Samaritan laws have received
some skepticism from those who oppose the thought of letting a drug user go
free simply because he/she called for help; however, friends and families of
the victims argue otherwise. In 2012,
twenty-seven year old Andrew Woodmansee died of a heroin overdose after the
dealer, also the other user, tried reviving Andrew by slapping him and yelling
his name. When these attempts failed, he
drove Andrew to a secluded area and left him to die; Andrew’s body was
discovered two days later. Andrew’s
father spoke out, saying that if a Good Samaritan law had been available at the
time, the law “could have saved Andrew’s life.” Similarly, twenty-four year old Greg Hume was
also left to die after an overdose when he was left in a parked car outside of
a hospital emergency exit; no one honked, or called 911 and by the time
hospital authorities discovered the body an hour later, it was too late. Hume’s father, Dave Hume, made a compelling
argument in response to critics who say the law will let the drug dealers and
users off the hook. He stated:
“It seems common
sense if someone is lying there dying to call 911 … for committing a good act,
you shouldn’t get in trouble.” In response to the law’s criticism he adds,
“[p]eople worry the bad guys, the drug dealers, are going to get away …
[d]efine drug dealer—is it three or four young people who get together and
purchase opiates? Arresting those three
or four young people isn’t going to stop anything; they’re not drug
dealers—they’re people who have the disease of addiction. It’s a medical problem and they need to be
treated. Dealers are never going to be where an overdose occurs—they don’t want
to get arrested, not only would they lose their profit but they’d lose their
business.”
The law does seem to let drug users go
free, and this may trouble many prosecutors who will not be able to bring
charges against someone who was also in possession of, and using the deadly
drug. However, laws like the one
endorsed in Virginia that would make it a second-degree murder offense to
supply a deadly dose of heroin would allow prosecutors to pursue the key
players more vigorously. In conclusion,
practitioners must remember the goals of punishment and ask themselves if any
of those goals are furthered by pressing criminal charges against someone with
a disease beyond their control who simply tried calling for help in an
emergency.
*Note: This article was inspired by the death of my
oldest friend, and my other half, whose life was recently taken away because of
this disease. I, along with many other
families and friends hope that these Good Samaritan laws prevent the loss of
another young life. Rest in Heaven
Jonathan Flores 07/04/1990- 12/07/2014.
By Mahira Khan
Staffer, Criminal Law Practitioner
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