Illinois law will change in a few months to protect individuals who overdose or assist someone who is overdosing and who contact 911 for medical assistance from being prosecuted for drug crimes (which they previously/otherwise could have been prosecuted for based on the evidence at the scene, etc.) in certain circumstances. Read on...
Emergency Medical Services Access Law grants immunity from prosecution to those who experiences or report drug overdoses - PA 097-0678
(April 2012, original bulletin in whole prepared by the University of Illinois College of Law and appeared in the Illinois Bar Journal)
Illinois lawmakers have amended the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (720 ILCS 570/414 new), the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act ... and the Unified Code of Corrections ... in an effort to decrease drug overdose deaths. The Act was passed to address the significant increase in drug-overdose deaths across Illinois, and in response to the fact that such overdoses are the "second leading cause of accidental death in the nation."
The Illinois Controlled Substances Act amendment provides limited immunity from prosecution from Class 4 felony violations of the Act. An overdose is defined as "a controlled substance-induced psychological event that results in a life-threatening emergency to the individual who ingested, inhaled, injected or otherwise bodily absorbed a controlled, counterfeit, or look-alike substance or a controlled substance analog." Limited immunity applies to the person experiencing an overdose, as well as those who seek or obtain emergency medical assistance for the overdosing person.
In order to obtain immunity, emergency medical assistance must be sought or obtained in good faith. If evidence for a Class 4 felony possession charge is acquired as a result of seeking medical assistance for another's overdose, the person seeking help will be immune from charge or prosecution for the corresponding Class 4 felony.
Immunity is limited to people in possession of an amount less than: 3 grams of heroin; 3 grams of cocaine; 3 grams of morphine; 40 grams of peyote; 40 grams of barbituric acid; 40 grams of amphetamine; 3 grams of LSD; 6 grams of pentazocine; 6 grams of methaqualone; 6 grams of ketamine; and 40 grams of any other "narcotic drug in Schedules I or II." The same amount limitations apply to the possession of substances that merely contain the controlled substances listed above. Additionally, immunity will not be granted if law enforcement "has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to detain, arrest, or search the person...for criminal activity" based on prior or independent information.
The Methamphetamine Control and Community Prevention Act amendment provides limited immunity from prosecution for Class 3 felony violations of the Act. Immunity will be granted with the same limitation provided by the Controlled Substances Act amendment, except that the amount of substance recovered must be less than one gram of methamphetamine or a substance containing methamphetamine.
Finally, the Unified Code of Corrections section added a new mitigating factor that "shall be accorded weight in favor of withholding or minimizing a sentence of imprisonment." It may be a mitigating factor that the defendant who sought or obtained emergency medical assistance for an overdose has been convicted of a Class 3 or higher felony under Illinois Controlled Substance Act or a Class 2 or higher felony under the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act.
(Illinois Bar Journal, Illinois Law Update, Legislation)
(Illinois Bar Journal, http://www.isba.org/ibj/2012/01)
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