Reporting Of Emergency Overdose Events

Under current law, a person is immune from arrest and prosecution of certain criminal offenses if the person reports an overdose to an emergency responder and satisfies additional requirements related to the reporting. The bill extends the immunity to a person who did not report the overdose to an emergency responder but aided or sought aid for the person who suffered the overdose and satisfies additional requirements related to the reporting.

The bill also extends that immunity from arrest and prosecution to the following criminal offenses:

• Unlawful possession of a controlled substance if the material, compound, mixture, or preparation contains fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or an analog thereof; and
• Unlawful distribution or transfer of the controlled substance for the purpose of consuming all of the controlled substance with another person at a time substantially contemporaneous with the transfer, if the distribution or transfer involves certain controlled substances.

The bill creates an affirmative defense to the prosecution makes it a level 1 drug misdemeanor rather than a level 3 or level 4 drug felony for unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing, or sale of a material, compound, mixture, or preparation that weighs not more than 4 grams and contains any amount of certain controlled substances if the person reports an overdose to an emergency responder and satisfies additional requirements related to the reporting.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)