Overwhelming support for bills to prevent overdoses

LANSING — It doesn't happen very often that the Legislature passes bills that will save lives, said state Rep. Al Pscholka.

But on Thursday, the House did just that, passing a pair of bills on 107-1 votes that would expand the state's Good Samaritan laws to help reduce the growing epidemic of drug overdose deaths.

"We vote on a lot of stuff here. We'll probably vote on 500 or 600 bills this session," Pscholka, R-Stevensville, said. "But there are only a handful of bills where you can say you've saved somebody's life."

Some lawmakers say some police ill-equipped for overdoses

Last year, laws were enacted giving people 21 years old or younger immunity from prosecution if they sought medical assistance for themselves or a friend for treatment of a drug overdose. The bill was born out of the Jan. 1, 2015, death of 16-year-old Mason Mizwicki, who died of a methadone overdose after taking the prescription drug at a New Year's Eve party in Watervliet. Other partygoers were too afraid to call for help because they feared getting into legal trouble.

The bills passed Thursday expand the Good Samaritan law to provide legal protections to anyone summoning medical assistance for all drug overdoses, regardless of their age or substance consumed.

Pscholka said law enforcement is telling him the law is working, saving a 17-year-old Bridgman girl earlier this year and four people who were administered Narcan, to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose just last week in Van Buren County.

In Ingham County, overdose deaths have increased fivefold, said Rep. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, another sponsor of the bills.

"If we can get these bills through the Senate quickly, I can tell you, over the summer, we’ll save people’s lives," he said.

State Rep. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, was the lone no vote on the bills — HB 5649-5650 — which now move to the Senate for consideration.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal