ENROLLED
       2012 Legislature                                          SB 278
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                              2012278er
    1  
    2         An act relating to preventing deaths from drug-related
    3         overdoses; providing a short title; creating s.
    4         893.21, F.S.; providing that a person acting in good
    5         faith who seeks medical assistance for an individual
    6         experiencing a drug-related overdose may not be
    7         charged, prosecuted, or penalized for specified
    8         offenses in certain circumstances; providing that a
    9         person who experiences a drug-related overdose and
   10         needs medical assistance may not be charged,
   11         prosecuted, or penalized for specified offenses in
   12         certain circumstances; providing that the protections
   13         from prosecution for specified offenses are not
   14         grounds for suppression of evidence in other
   15         prosecutions; amending s. 921.0026, F.S.; amending
   16         mitigating circumstances under which a departure from
   17         the lowest permissible criminal sentence is reasonably
   18         justified to include circumstances in which a
   19         defendant was making a good faith effort to obtain or
   20         provide medical assistance for an individual
   21         experiencing a drug-related overdose; providing an
   22         effective date.
   23  
   24         WHEREAS, some research suggests that in a majority of cases
   25  of fatal drug overdose another person was aware of or present
   26  during the decedent’s fatal drug use and that in one-third of
   27  the cases someone recognized the decedent’s distress, and
   28         WHEREAS, many people cite fear of police involvement or
   29  fear of arrest as their primary reason for not seeking immediate
   30  help for a person thought to be experiencing a drug overdose,
   31  and
   32         WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to encourage a person
   33  who is aware of or present during another individual’s drug
   34  overdose to seek medical assistance for that individual, NOW,
   35  THEREFORE,
   36  
   37  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   38  
   39         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “911 Good Samaritan
   40  Act.”
   41         Section 2. Section 893.21, Florida Statutes, is created to
   42  read:
   43         893.21 Drug-related overdoses; medical assistance; immunity
   44  from prosecution.—
   45         (1) A person acting in good faith who seeks medical
   46  assistance for an individual experiencing a drug-related
   47  overdose may not be charged, prosecuted, or penalized pursuant
   48  to this chapter for possession of a controlled substance if the
   49  evidence for possession of a controlled substance was obtained
   50  as a result of the person’s seeking medical assistance.
   51         (2) A person who experiences a drug-related overdose and is
   52  in need of medical assistance may not be charged, prosecuted, or
   53  penalized pursuant to this chapter for possession of a
   54  controlled substance if the evidence for possession of a
   55  controlled substance was obtained as a result of the overdose
   56  and the need for medical assistance.
   57         (3) Protection in this section from prosecution for
   58  possession offenses under this chapter may not be grounds for
   59  suppression of evidence in other criminal prosecutions.
   60         Section 3. Paragraph (n) is added to subsection (2) of
   61  section 921.0026, Florida Statutes, to read:
   62         921.0026 Mitigating circumstances.—This section applies to
   63  any felony offense, except any capital felony, committed on or
   64  after October 1, 1998.
   65         (2) Mitigating circumstances under which a departure from
   66  the lowest permissible sentence is reasonably justified include,
   67  but are not limited to:
   68         (n) The defendant was making a good faith effort to obtain
   69  or provide medical assistance for an individual experiencing a
   70  drug-related overdose.
   71         Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2012.