Overdose victims charged with ‘inducing panic’ under new law in Ohio

A newly implemented policy that lets police in central Ohio criminally charge drug users who survive non-fatal overdoses is gaining steam across the state.

Authorities in the city of Washington Court House started charging overdose survivors in February with “inducing panic,” a misdemeanor, and had issued seven summonses as of March 2, an ABC affiliate in Columbus reported last week. Individuals convicted of charge face upwards of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Over 100 miles away in Washington County, Sheriff Larry Mincks told WTAP this week that he favors putting a similar policy in place to help get drug addicts off the street.

“It’s taking them out of circulation in an opportunity or in an effort for us to try and get them treatment,” he said. “We’re not doing this to not planning on doing this to just arrest them for the mere fact of just arresting them it’s to try and help them.”

The sheriff’s explanation for the proposed Washington County plan is similar to the reasoning offered in Washington Court House, a city of nearly 15,000 residents located between Cincinnati and Columbus in Fayette County. City Attorney Mark Pitstick told WSYX-TV last week that officials there have begun charging overdose victims so that authorities track users in addition to trying to provide them with help.

“It gives us the ability to keep an eye on them, to offer them assistance and to know who has overdosed,” he told reporters, according to the local ABC affiliate. “Sometimes we can’t even track who has overdosed.”

“We’re here to help,” Mr. Pitstick said. “We’re not here to put them in jail.”

Washington Court implemented the policy in February after the city saw 30 suspected overdoses during a 10-day span, including a half-dozen that were fatal. Under the initiative, authorities can bring charges against an overdose victims who has been revived with a narcotic that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses, WTAP reported.

A state law that took effect in September, House Bill 110, grants immunity to overdose victims from arrest and conviction for minor drug possession charges. The “inducing panic” charge recently implemented in Washington Court House skirts the state law’s language, the local Cleve Scene blog reported this week.

Over 60,000 Ohioans reside in Washington County, the oldest in the state.