California moves to close overdose protection loophole that deters students from seeking emergency help

On the nighttime TJ McGee overdosed from a substance of drugs and intoxicant successful his freshman twelvemonth astatine UC Berkeley, his friends recovered him passed retired successful the hallway by their shared dorm room.

The roommates tried to help, but erstwhile McGee stopped breathing, they called 911.

McGee survived and, racked with guilt implicit what happened that night, committed to confronting his substance-use problem. Then, successful the days that followed, McGee received a astonishment email from field officials that ushered successful a full caller question of emotions.

The missive said the medication would beryllium placing McGee connected world probation for violating Berkeley’s residential behaviour rules against cause and intoxicant possession, usage and organisation — perchance jeopardizing his world career.

“They made maine consciousness arsenic if I was a villain for the choices I made,” said McGee, 20, present a junior. “I felt shameful capable already.”

Today, McGee speaks regularly successful enactment of California State Assembly Bill 602, which would prohibit nationalist colleges and universities from punishing students if they telephone 911 during an overdose emergency, oregon if a adjacent does truthful connected their behalf. It requires schools to connection rehabilitation options and requires students who question exigency aesculapian assistance to implicit a attraction program.

“The measure would support students conscionable similar maine from adjacent receiving a missive similar that,” and ensures that they are fixed attraction instead, McGee said.

The measure precocious passed successful some houses of the authorities Legislature; it awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. A spokesperson for Newsom said helium typically does not remark connected pending legislation.

Despite a caller nationwide plunge successful the fig of deaths stemming from synthetic opioids specified arsenic fentanyl and contaminated versions of those drugs, overdose remains the starring origin of decease for Americans property 18 to 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though numbers could beryllium revised arsenic caller information from California travel in, the CDC provisionally estimates a 21% driblet successful overdose deaths successful the authorities to 9,660 betwixt March 2024 and March 2025, compared with 12,247 successful the erstwhile 12-month period. Opioid-related deaths, successful peculiar from fentanyl, made up the bulk of California’s overdose fatalities successful 2023, the astir caller twelvemonth for which statistic are disposable connected the state’s opioid-prevention website.

In response, California started requiring field wellness centers astatine astir nationalist colleges and universities to marque the opioid overdose-reversing nasal spray Narcan disposable to students successful field residences.

McGee said that portion helium hadn’t taken immoderate opioids the nighttime of his overdose, helium was administered Narcan portion incapacitated.

Advocates for AB 602 accidental much needs to beryllium done to summation the likelihood that assemblage students volition question contiguous assistance during a drug-related emergency.

It’s important for lawmakers and assemblage officials to recognize however overmuch fearfulness is progressive erstwhile an overdose occurs — not conscionable with the idiosyncratic who is overdosing but among peers who question to assistance but don’t privation to get a person successful trouble, said UC Berkeley pupil Saanvi Arora. She is the laminitis and enforcement manager of Youth Power Project, a nonprofit that helps young radical who’ve had adverse wellness experiences usage their idiosyncratic stories to beforehand argumentation reforms.

“California has dramatically accrued investments successful school-based intelligence wellness and crisis-intervention resources and access, for illustration to fentanyl investigating strips connected assemblage campuses and entree to Narcan,” Arora said. “But 1 large spread that we spot ... is that there’s inactive a truly debased utilization complaint among young radical and students.”

Fear of world probation, suspension oregon expulsion leads immoderate students with substance-use problems to debar reaching retired to residential advisors, instructors oregon schoolhouse administrators for help, leaving them feeling truthful isolated that they spot fewer different options too turning to the constabulary arsenic a past edifice oregon doing thing astatine all, Arora said.

Youth Power Project authored a measure to combat these problems; Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), its main sponsor, introduced it to the authorities Legislature this past spring. “During an overdose immoderate hesitation tin beryllium deadly,” the lawmaker said successful a statement. “AB 602 makes it wide that calling 911 volition ne'er outgo you your world future.”

Campus subject and ineligible prosecution tin beryllium counterproductive if the extremity is to forestall overdose deaths, said Evan Schreiber, a licensed objective societal idiosyncratic and manager of substance maltreatment upset services astatine APLA Health, an L.A.-based nonprofit that offers mental-health and substance-use services and backs the bill.

“By removing the fearfulness of consequences, you’re going to promote much radical to get help,” Schreiber said.

Schreiber and Arora said AB 602 extends to places of higher learning immoderate of the protections guaranteed to Californians extracurricular of campuses nether the “911 Good Samaritan Law,” which went into effect successful 2013 to summation the reporting of fentanyl poisoning and forestall opioid deaths.

That instrumentality protects radical from apprehension and prosecution if they question aesculapian assistance during an overdose-related emergency, arsenic good arsenic individuals who measurement successful to assistance by calling 911. It doesn’t, however, screen disciplinary actions imposed by colleges and universities.

One quality betwixt the 911 Good Samaritan Law and the mentation of AB 602 that passed some houses of the Legislature is that the second does not screen students who telephone connected behalf of an overdosing adjacent and who are themselves recovered to person violated field intoxicant and cause policies, said Nate Allbee, a spokesperson for Haney. Allbee noted that Haney hopes to adhd this extortion successful the future.

Even though AB 602 doesn’t see each of the protections that supporters wanted, the regularisation solves what Arora identified arsenic a large problem: UCs, Cal State campuses and assemblage colleges successful California are governed by a patchwork of policies and behaviour codes regarding substance usage that disagree from field to campus, making it hard for students to cognize wherever they basal erstwhile they are successful crisis.

McGee said helium wished he’d learned much astir the enactment services that were disposable to him astatine Berkeley earlier his overdose. But helium was already struggling emotionally and surviving connected his ain erstwhile helium entered assemblage successful autumn 2023.

McGee described increasing up successful an situation successful which substance usage was common. He ne'er felt that helium could crook to anyone adjacent to him to enactment done feelings of loneliness and bouts of depression. It was easier to artifact it each retired by partying.

McGee started utilizing harder drugs, missing classes and spending full days successful furniture portion coming down from his benders. He wouldn’t eat. Friends would inquire what’s wrong, but he’d look astatine the partition and disregard them. His grade-point mean plummeted to 2.3.

Some of the friends who helped McGee connected the nighttime of his overdose grew distant for a time, excessively dismayed implicit the turmoil helium was causing himself and those astir him.

McGee knew helium needed to support trying to salvage his world vocation and gain backmost the spot of his peers. All helium could deliberation was: “I request to hole my grades. I request to hole myself.”

One time during his recovery, McGee sat his friends down, apologized and explained what helium was going through.

Then successful his sophomore year, McGee happened to beryllium lobbying lawmakers successful Sacramento implicit field backing cuts erstwhile helium overheard a abstracted radical of students from Youth Power Project talking astir a measure they authored that would go AB 602.

It was similar eavesdropping connected a acheronian section successful his ain life. McGee agreed to contiguous the measure to Haney and stock his acquisition astatine meetings with legislators and successful hearings.

McGee’s disciplinary probation connected field lasts until the extremity of 2025, but moving connected the overdose measure has fixed him a caller consciousness of purpose. A science major, McGee yet took connected nationalist argumentation arsenic a minor.

“I consciousness similar I became a portion of this measure and it became specified a ample root of anticipation for me,” McGee said. “It would beryllium astonishing to spot this enactment and attraction implemented nationally. This is not conscionable a California issue.”