Mother Promotes Awareness of Good Samaritan Law

I lost my son Salvatore Marchese to an accidental overdose on Sept. 23, 2010. Sal wasn’t just my son; he was also a devoted brother and most importantly a father. His death, like so many others in New Jersey could have been prevented if the people with whom he was using drugs had called 911 for help. Instead of helping to save a life, my son was left alone to die without the help he needed and deserved. I lost my son and my grandson lost his Daddy because someone was afraid to call 911 for fear of arrest and/or prosecution.
Nothing is going to bring Sal back I will carry him forever in my heart. I knew that I needed to do something to make a difference, not only to honor Sal, but to prevent future overdose deaths and spare other families the grief that mine has endured. After many phone calls I found the Drug Policy Alliance and began advocating for the 911 Good Samaritan legislation for New Jersey. After what seemed like an eternity I am happy to say that on May 2, Governor Christie signed into law the Overdose Prevention Act.
I was honored to be asked by Christie to attend and speak at the signing of the Act. It combines two different pieces of overdose prevention legislation, one that provides legal protections to those who experience or witness a drug overdose and summon medical assistance, and one that expands access to the life-saving medication naloxone. The implementation of these new policies opens up the opportunity to save countless lives going forward.
We need to educate the public of this new life saving law—make people aware that it is in place and also advise parents who have children that are struggling with addiction that they can ask their physician for a prescription to get Naloxone. Naloxone reverses the effects of an overdose and is easily administered.
New Jersey is on the right path of saving lives with this new law but we still have so much more work to do. Calling 911 to save a life and treatment must go hand in hand. We cannot save a child from an overdose and in turn not be able to give him/her treatment for their disease. With that treatment we must also provide education and the proper tools to maintain a healthy way of living. We are defeating the purpose of the new law if we are not able to follow through and give them the help they need and deserve. Recovery is possible and it happens with the right tools.
There is no other disease that faces as many barriers as addiction does. No one has to fight as hard as an addict to get treatment. We need to fight for more funding, more beds, expanded treatment and for insurance companies to recognize and treat addiction like any other disease. We need to educate people, lift the stigma and have early prevention for our kids on the dangers of prescription pills. Parents also need to be educated on the dangers of prescription pills and heroin—they need to know that addiction does not discriminate and it can happen to anyone. No one is immune from addiction.