Credit score: MART PRODUCTION from Pexels
On the night time TJ McGee overdosed from a combination of medicine and alcohol in his freshman 12 months at UC Berkeley, his buddies discovered him handed out within the hallway by their shared dorm room.
The roommates tried to assist, however when McGee stopped respiration, they referred to as 911.
The letter stated the administration could be inserting McGee on educational probation for violating Berkeley’s residential conduct guidelines towards drug and alcohol possession, use and distribution—probably jeopardizing his educational profession.
“They made me feel as if I was a villain for the choices I made,” stated McGee, 20, now a junior. “I felt shameful enough already.”
At the moment, McGee speaks repeatedly in help of California State Meeting Invoice 602, which might prohibit public faculties and universities from punishing college students in the event that they name 911 throughout an overdose emergency, or if a peer does so on their behalf. It requires colleges to supply rehabilitation choices and requires college students who search emergency medical help to finish a therapy program.
“The bill would protect students just like me from even receiving a letter like that,” and make sure that they’re given care as a substitute, McGee stated.
Regardless of a current nationwide plunge within the variety of deaths stemming from artificial opioids comparable to fentanyl and contaminated variations of these medication, overdose stays the main reason behind loss of life for People aged 18 to 44, in line with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Although numbers might be revised as new information from California are available, the CDC provisionally estimates a 21% drop in overdose deaths within the state to 9,660 between March 2024 and March 2025, in contrast with 12,247 within the earlier 12-month interval.
Opioid-related deaths, particularly from fentanyl, made up the majority of California’s overdose fatalities in 2023, the latest 12 months for which statistics can be found on the state’s opioid-prevention web site.
In response, California began requiring campus well being facilities at most public faculties and universities to make the opioid overdose-reversing nasal spray Narcan obtainable to college students in campus residences.
McGee stated that whereas he hadn’t taken any opioids the night time of his overdose, he was administered Narcan whereas incapacitated.
Advocates for AB 602 say extra must be achieved to extend the probability that school college students will search instant assist throughout a drug-related emergency.
It is vital for lawmakers and school officers to comprehend how a lot worry is concerned when an overdose happens—not simply with the one who is overdosing however amongst friends who search to assist however do not wish to get a buddy in hassle, stated UC Berkeley scholar Saanvi Arora. She is the founder and government director of Youth Energy Challenge, a nonprofit that helps younger individuals who’ve had adversarial well being experiences use their private tales to advertise coverage reforms.
“California has dramatically increased investments in school-based mental health and crisis-intervention resources and access, for example, to fentanyl testing strips on college campuses and access to Narcan,” Arora stated. “But one big gap that we see … is that there’s still a really low utilization rate among young people and students.”
Worry of educational probation, suspension or expulsion leads some college students with substance-use issues to keep away from reaching out to residential advisors, instructors or faculty directors for assist, leaving them feeling so remoted that they see few different choices in addition to turning to the police as a final resort or doing nothing in any respect, Arora stated.
Youth Energy Challenge authored a invoice to fight these issues; Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), its chief sponsor, launched it to the state Legislature this previous spring. “During an overdose any hesitation can be deadly,” the lawmaker stated in a press release. “AB 602 makes it clear that calling 911 will never cost you your academic future.”
Campus self-discipline and authorized prosecution will be counterproductive if the purpose is to stop overdose deaths, stated Evan Schreiber, a licensed medical social employee and director of substance abuse dysfunction companies at APLA Well being, an L.A.-based nonprofit that provides mental-health and substance-use companies and backs the invoice.
“By removing the fear of consequences, you’re going to encourage more people to get help,” Schreiber stated.
Schreiber and Arora stated AB 602 extends to locations of upper studying a few of the protections assured to Californians exterior of campuses beneath the “911 Good Samaritan Law,” which went into impact in 2013 to extend the reporting of fentanyl poisoning and stop opioid deaths.
That regulation protects folks from arrest and prosecution in the event that they search medical support throughout an overdose-related emergency, in addition to people who step in to assist by calling 911. It does not, nevertheless, cowl disciplinary actions imposed by faculties and universities.
One distinction between the 911 Good Samaritan Legislation and the model of AB 602 that handed each homes of the Legislature is that the latter doesn’t cowl college students who name on behalf of an overdosing peer and who’re themselves discovered to have violated campus alcohol and drug insurance policies, stated Nate Allbee, a spokesperson for Haney. Allbee famous that Haney hopes so as to add this safety sooner or later.
Though AB 602 does not embrace all the protections that supporters wished, the rule solves what Arora recognized as a serious downside: UCs, Cal State campuses and neighborhood faculties in California are ruled by a patchwork of insurance policies and conduct codes relating to substance use that differ from campus to campus, making it tough for college kids to know the place they stand when they’re in disaster.
McGee stated he wished he’d discovered extra in regards to the help companies that have been obtainable to him at Berkeley earlier than his overdose. However he was already struggling emotionally and residing on his personal when he entered school in fall 2023.
In his sophomore 12 months, McGee occurred to be lobbying lawmakers in Sacramento over campus funding cuts when he overheard a separate group of scholars from Youth Energy Challenge speaking a few invoice they authored that may change into AB 602.
It was like eavesdropping on a darkish chapter in his personal life. McGee agreed to current the invoice to Haney and share his expertise at conferences with legislators and in hearings.
McGee’s disciplinary probation on campus lasts till the top of 2025, however engaged on the overdose invoice has given him a brand new sense of function. A psychology main, McGee finally took on public coverage as a minor.
“I feel like I became a part of this bill and it became such a large source of hope for me,” McGee stated. “It would be amazing to see this support and care implemented nationally. This is not just a California issue.”
2025 Los Angeles Instances. Distributed by Tribune Content material Company, LLC.
Quotation:
California strikes to shut overdose safety loophole that deters college students from searching for emergency assist (2025, September 12)
retrieved 12 September 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-09-california-overdose-loophole-deters-students.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any honest dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
