Don’t treat overdoses as crime scenes

The recent article, “Baltimore homicide detectives to begin investigating drug overdoses” (May 2), points to a very concerning Baltimore Police Department policy related to treating overdoses as crime scenes. Make no mistake, we will see more overdose deaths because of this policy.

Treating overdoses as a crime scene contradicts the spirit of Maryland’s Good Samaritan law, which provides immunity from arrest, charge and prosecution for certain drug-related offenses for people at the scene of an overdose. The department’s policy will discourage people from calling for medical assistance to get help for an overdose. This puts people experiencing an overdose at risk of death and further isolates vulnerable individuals and communities from seeking help. This is especially dangerous given the need for additional medical assistance during a fentanyl overdose.

As peer-advocates, we use our lived experience with drug use to educate our communities to use naloxone to save lives, and to call 911 after administering naloxone to ensure that medical assistance is available if overdose symptoms return. With this new policy, we can no longer assure people that the Good Samaritan law will protect them.

During the first nine months of 2016, 431 individuals died of an overdose, surpassing the number of people who died the previous year. We can reduce overdose deaths through naloxone distribution, peer-to-peer outreach, needle exchange and easy access to highquality drug treatment. Baltimore would be better equipped to respond to the overdose epidemic if city officials engaged and listened to people who use drugs, instead of locking us up, endangering our communities and letting us die.