Ohio reconsiders good Samaritan heroin law

COLUMBUS – Ohio lawmakers are renewing efforts to protect good Samaritans who call to report a friend's drug overdose, after neighboring Kentucky passed a similar law to address the region's heroin crisis.

The good Samaritan bill — which would exempt someone from drug charges if he or she calls 911 when a friend overdoses — failed to pass in the previous Ohio General Assembly session. Some lawmakers fretted it would enable drug abuse.

But sponsors Rep. Denise Driehaus, D-Clifton Heights, and Rep. Robert Sprague, R-Findlay, say they hope lawmakers have learned enough to pass the bill this time around.

"I frankly think that it's no surprise that some of the more controversial or more substantive pieces will follow the baby steps in the last (General Assembly session)," Driehaus said. "This is our job: to expose people to the nature of the crisis, to get some legislation passed to address it, and then to build on that to get people to take a step further."

Ohio needs a good Samaritan law, supporters say, because drug users sometimes fear prosecution and are afraid to call 911 when a companion overdoses. The overdosing person might die without quick medical attention, they say. Still, law enforcement officers say heroin users are usually concerned enough about their friends that they don't hesitate to call 911.

Lawmakers didn't want the special good Samaritan protection to apply to drug dealers, Sprague said. So the bill would exclude anyone who is carrying more than a gram of heroin, enough for about 10 doses. If a 911 caller is on probation for another offense, he or she wouldn't be sent to jail but would be required to enter a treatment program.

Some Ohio lawmakers also want to reduce by 60 percent the amount of heroin that will land a person in prison for 11 years, saying it will help crack down on drug dealers.

Currently, a person possessing between 50 and 2,500 doses of heroin will be charged with a first-degree felony, worth three to 11 years in prison. If they have even more heroin, they'll receive a mandatory 11-year sentence. A bill that passed a House committee last week would decrease the upper limit to 1,000 doses or 100 grams, in line with penalties for cocaine.

Rep. Louis "Bill" Blessing, R-Colerain Township, introduced the proposal at the request of Lt. Brad Winall, of the Regional Narcotics Unit based in Cincinnati.

"It would provide us with additional leverage against the local drug traffickers, as well as the traffickers that we arrest from other parts of the country," Winall said in a letter to Blessing.

Rep. Jonathan Dever, R-Madeira, joined Blessing in sponsoring the bill after talking with judges about the load of heroin-related cases in the Court of Common Pleas in Hamilton County.

"Their view is that current law wasn't designed to address this as an epidemic," Dever said.

But increasing sentences won't stop the epidemic, said Kari Underwood, legislative liaison for the Ohio public defender. In an exchange reported by Gongwer News Service, she told lawmakers that they should focus instead on allocating money for treatment.