Legislator vows to revive bill on drug overdoses

A bill that would have imposed a misdemeanor penalty for failing to render aid was quietly shelved during the Utah Legislature's last session, despite pleas from families whose grown children died from drug overdoses in the presence of friends.

But the bill's sponsor, Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Salt Lake City, said Tuesday she plans to revive the measure during the 2007 session.

The Judiciary Committee recommended it be put on interim study, which means the bill did not come up for a vote, but also didn't lapse, and merits further consideration.

Moss said she plans to rework the bill after consulting people in the treatment and law enforcement communities and reintroduce it. Her proposal would have made it a class B misdemeanor to not render aid to someone who was in distress from something such as a drug overdose.

A class B misdemeanor carries a sentence of six months in jail.

Moss said the measure got fervent support from bereaved families who lost a loved one to a drug overdose, but opposition came from drug-treatment officials who feared it might make addicts afraid to call for emergency help.

"Many people thought it would be a good idea, but prosecutors were concerned about how it would work and if it would be effective," Moss said. "Those in the treatment community were not happy with the idea there would be criminal penalties for failure to render aid, but others felt strongly (in favor of passage) for obvious reasons."

Moss wants more study to work out any problems with the bill, and also hopes the process will spur greater communication between the law enforcement and treatment communities.

"The problem is certainly not going away, and there's still a good deal of interest in it. We're just trying to find the right way to deal with it," she said.

Moss said the tragic deaths last year of Amelia Sorich, 18, and Stephen James Sill, 27, underscore the need to do something. Both young people were with friends when they died of drug overdoses and no one called for help.

Moss said these deaths have opened many people's eyes to the fact that drug use is more widespread than they think, is hitting all socio-economic levels and that there is tremendous denial in Utah about how big the problem is.

On one hand, there are some who want ultra-tough law enforcement for anyone and anything associated with drugs. But Moss said she learned that police seldom arrest anyone when an overdose is reported because they're trying to save a life and need the people at the scene to cooperate by providing crucial information about what and how much the person ingested. Speedy medical care often means the difference between life and death, Moss said.

Balancing all those various interests will be tricky, but Moss insists it must be done and will need input from many groups in the community.

"We're losing young people," she said. "Sometimes, if you do nothing more than open a dialogue, you might have some positive results."

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