Amid a surge in drug-related fatalities in Clatsop County, authorities hope to make the public more aware of Oregon’s overdose amnesty law, which ensures that in the event of an overdose, the person calling for emergency medical assistance — as well as the person overdosing — will not be arrested or prosecuted for drug possession.

Known as the Good Samaritan law, the statute was adopted in 2015 in an effort to lower rates of fatal overdoses.

Overdose remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the Oregon Health Authority, fatal overdoses nearly tripled across the state from 2019 to 2023.

“In 2024, there were 18 (drug-related) fatalities total in the county,” said Clatsop County District Attorney Ron Brown. “This year alone, there’s 12 fatalities already … deaths are supposedly down in the rest of the state; they’re supposedly down in the rest of the country, and they’re not here.”

Brown said a lack of awareness about the Good Samaritan law could be contributing to the recent rise in deaths tied to the synthetic opioid fentanyl, with drug users afraid to contact emergency assistance for fear of prosecution.

A fentanyl overdose can require multiple applications of Narcan, a medicine used to reverse an opioid overdose. Even then, revival is not a guarantee.

“People these days, what they’re doing is they get their stuff all lined up, and they get their Narcan right there ready to go so that either they or someone else can administer it,” Brown said. “And I tell you, it’s just like Russian roulette, you know.

“And some people, apparently, just expect that they’re going to overdose ‘X’ number of times. I can’t imagine why you’d want to do that, because it literally is just like spinning the cylinder of a gun.”

To Brown, the law’s importance was highlighted by a recent incident in Warrenton. He said that two people were on FaceTime using drugs together when one of them overdosed.

But emergency services were never contacted, and the person died.

With the Good Samaritan Law, people, including those on probation, who call for emergency assistance are protected from being prosecuted for possessing drugs or for frequenting areas known for drug use.

But they can still be prosecuted for nondrug-related offenses or for federal warrants or warrants from other states.

And in the event that the reporting party is the one who supplied the drugs, that person could only be charged with delivery.

In the past, drug dealers whose clients died of overdoses in Clatsop County have been charged with manslaughter and convicted of criminally negligent homicide.

Brown hopes that raising awareness of the Good Samaritan Law will help curb fatal overdoses. In a situation where several minutes could be the difference between life and death, a rapid response is crucial.

“We like to see Clatsop County leading in things, but not overdose deaths,” he said.