BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — New Jersey’s Good Samaritan Act may offer immunity to witnesses of drug overdoses who report the overdose to authorities.
However, the Bordentown Township Committee has made it clear that the bill does not yet address some major concerns regarding deterrence and public safety.
The presumption behind the Good Samaritan Act is that if those witnesses were granted immunity from the law they would have been more willing to report the overdose.
In 2009 more than 700 people died from drug overdose in New Jersey due to no one notifying authorities in time to save the person, Committeeman Jim Cann said at the Dec. 10 meeting as the committee started discussing the bill and its apparent need.
In July of last year, a Bordentown resident’s son died of an overdose in Edison, instigating further concern for the failure of witnesses to report overdoses.
The Legislature passed the Good Samaritan Act in August but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed it. Now the Legislature is revising the bill to include further study.
The bill “seeks to encourage witnesses and victims of drug overdoses to seek medical assistance by granting broad immunities from criminal prosecution for users of dangerous and illegal narcotics,” Gov. Christie wrote in his veto.
But the bill, as drafted, “fails to carefully consider all the interests that must be balanced when crafting immunities to the protections provided in our criminal laws,” Gov. Christie continued. “Although the bill addresses perceived impediments to reporting drug overdoses, the proposal fails to consider the existing approaches to deterrence, public safety, prevention of violence, and the many social problems that accompany the rampant proliferation of drug distribution and use.”
At the Dec. 27 Bordentown Committee meeting, Mayor Karl Feltes called a vote to hold a request to override the veto until the Legislature’s revision of the bill is complete. Committeeman John Moynihan and Deputy Mayor Michael Dauber, however, voted against that motion — asserting their support of the governor’s veto. The committee still voted 2-3 to hold its request for the state Senate and Assembly to override the bill’s veto.
Mr. Moynihan, Mayor Feltes and Mr. Dauber have similar concerns as the governor. Mr. Moynihan, for instance, said the bill would conflict with drug-free school zone laws.
”By the time someone dies of overdose you’ve already failed in prevention,” he also said.
”I think there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered before the state offers immunity to drug overdoses,” Mr. Dauber added.
”I’d hate to have a parent lose a child because some drug dealer injected an overdose into the child’s arm and then decides they want to report it,” he said. “Then you have to explain to the parent that the person who gave their child the drug is going to get off Scot-free.”
Mr. Cann is an advocate of the bill and calls the measure a “no-brainer.”
”I think mothers are more concerned about their dying children than they are about a drug dealer potentially getting off,” Mr. Cann stated.
”They can study it all they want,” he continued. “To me, it makes sense — if you can save a life, you can save a life.”
