Pubdate: Sun, 20 Sep 2015
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2015 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Suzanne Wills

DRUG IMMUNITY LAWS SAVE LIVES

Re: "More charged in A&M death -- 10 now facing drug charges following
Frisco teen's overdose," Saturday Metro story.

Anton Gridnev, 19, of Frisco is the latest tragic, preventable drug
overdose death to make the news.

College Station Medical Center received two calls from his fraternity
house asking what to do when someone has overdosed. The caller asked the 

medical center not to call the police because of "substances" at their
location. By the time someone finally did, it was too late to save Gridne
v.

The 2015 Texas Legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that would have
extended the state's Good Samaritan law to protect people from arrest
who seek emergency care for someone who may have overdosed. It also
would have expanded access to naloxone, which can quickly save the life
of a person who has overdosed.

Washington is one state that has passed an immunity law. University of
Washington researchers then found that 88 percent of opiate users would
now be more likely to call 911 in an overdose.

The Texas Medical Association supported the Texas bill. Gov. Greg Abbott 

vetoed it.

Fatal drug overdose has increased more than sixfold in the past three
decades and now claims the lives of more than 43,000 Americans every
year. Gridnev need not have been one of them.

Suzanne Wills, Dallas, Treasurer, Drug Policy Forum of Texas
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