The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Good Samaritan Laws

By Shane Reader, PhD, Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Overdose deaths have skyrocketed in recent years. People experiencing overdoses require immediate medical attention: any time wasted before reporting the emergency to 911 lowers their chances of survival. While as many as 85 percent of opioid overdoses occur in the presence of a bystander, fewer than half are reported. The purpose of 911 Good Samaritan Laws (GSLs, also called Overdose Bystander Laws), then, is to encourage bystanders to report overdoses as soon as possible by providing immunity for certain criminal consequences of substance use.

Texas adopted the latest GSL in 2021, bringing the total number of state GSLs to 48. Including the municipal GSL in the District of Columbia, 99 percent of United States residents may receive some form of immunity. (See Figure 2.) While policy scientists have not reached consensus, promising analyses suggest GSLs with strong protections save lives: specifically, laws offering protection from arrest, in conjunction with expanded naloxone access, predict a 10 percent reduction in opioid overdose deaths.

However, an analysis of GSL provisions suggests treating all laws equivocally may disguise a more complicated picture.

The ATTC Network joins SAMHSA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in recognizing National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week® 2023 the week of March 20 through 26.

NDAFW is an annual, week-long health observance that inspires dialogue about the science of drug use and addiction among youth. Make the most of your NDAFW experience by sharing it with others.

Don’t forget to spread the word about your NDAFW participation with your network. NIDA’s promotion tips can help you expand the reach of your event or activity. Register today!

CTN Study Finds that Stimulant Use is a Barrier to Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

Co-use of opioids and stimulants, especially methamphetamine and cocaine, has been increasing and contributes to our growing overdose epidemic. Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), like buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX), are effective in reducing opioid use and preventing overdose – but does co-use of stimulants impact an individual’s initiation, engagement, and retention in MOUD treatment for their opioid use? And is there a difference between patients participating in a clinical trial and those in the “real world”?

Community Implementation of Contingency Management to Address Stimulant Use

While the search for medications to address stimulant use disorder remains elusive, contingency management (CM) is a behavior therapy for which there is strong evidence of effectiveness in improving treatment adherence among persons with stimulant use disorder. Despite its clinical effectiveness, treatment organizations have historically shown reluctance about its adoption due to a range of implementation concerns related to cost, logistics, philosophical incongruence, and policy barriers.

How might such barriers be overcome?

Pearls of Wisdom: Centering marginalized voices in the change process

Pearls of Wisdom: Investing Soundly By Building the Substance Use Disorder Workforce

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