SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of Utahns die each year as a result of accidental overdoses, many of which could have been prevented with a phone call. That has prompted one state lawmaker to offer an olive branch to addicts who fear by reporting overdoses, they could end up in legal trouble.

“The most common reason for not calling for help, they say, is fear of criminal involvement,” said Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Salt Lake City.

Moss is sponsoring HB11 that would provide limited legal immunity to drug users who seek life-saving help for overdose victims.

The plan has the support of at least one person who knows first-hand the difficult choice addicts sometimes face. During a party in June 2005, MaCall Petersen injected her friend Amelia Sorich with a potent mixture of heroin and cocaine. Petersen's boyfriend, Jasen Calacino, found Sorich unconscious a short time later.

Petersen, then 18 years old, would later admit to panicking. She had been on juvenile court probation and feared what would happen if emergency responders found her with drugs. Instead of calling 911, Petersen convinced Calacino to wait.

“Jasen, he did, he wanted to call the cops and it wasn’t like an argument or anything. It was just ‘I’m scared, I don’t want to get in trouble.’ That was it," Petersen said. "Basically, I was just scared.”

Sorich died as a result of Petersen's inaction. In the aftermath of her death, Petersen and Calacino drove Amelia into the Bountiful foothills. Hikers discovered her body there, leading to Petersen's arrest.

“I used to beat myself up over it," Petersen said. "I felt I deserved just to not live. I felt like a horrible person."

Petersen ended up pleading guilty to criminal counts of negligent homicide and desecration of a human body, charges that sent her to prison at the age of 19.

During her career as a high school teacher, Moss saw many students end up in similar trouble from experimenting with drugs. In some cases, those children succumbed to their chemical dependency, causing great sorrow for their families, friends and classmates.

“One case, it was a former student of mine and he was from a fine family," Moss said. "I mean this cuts across all socio-economic, all classes of people. It’s not confined to any one population."

This is not the first time Moss has attempted to deal with what she calls an overdose epidemic. On the heels of Sorich's death, she sponsored a very different piece of legislation that would have increased penalties for people who failed to seek assistance. That proposal drew strong criticism from social service and treatment organizations, ultimately failing to become law.

Stories like Sorich's strike a chord for Zach Baker. He became involved in overdose prevention outreach while a studying at Salt Lake Community College.

“We started talking to high-risk populations at raves and things and talking to them about overdoses and seeing if they had an overdose plan, if they knew what to do and how to handle it,” he said.

Baker, who now serves as director of the Harm Reduction Project, said many did not. A year ago, he approached Moss with the idea for a Good Samaritan bill. He chose to lobby her specifically partly because of her earlier work on overdose prevention legislation.

“But it was the opposite direction of the way that I think it should be. She was trying to prosecute people for not calling 911 and I was like ‘well you know, her heart’s in the right place’,” he said.

The two modeled HB11 after similar measures already enacted in other states. As drafted, it would provide an affirmative defense to people suspected of drug use or possession, if those crimes are uncovered through the act of seeking assistance for someone who has overdosed.

In more severe cases involving other crimes like theft or assault, the person who reported the overdose could use his or her potentially life-saving actions as a mitigating factor at sentencing.

“If they’re in a wrong situation, who knows how they got there but we need to at least make it easier for them to make the right choice in those life-saving moments," Baker said.

Moss believes her bill will stand up to scrutiny, in part because of the responsibilities places on the person reporting the overdose.

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“One, make the call. Two, stay with the person. Three, give whatever information you have about what they might be using,” she said.

But the bill would not protect drug users from prosecution if their honesty about an overdose comes only during the execution of a warrant or other interactions with police.

Moss said she hopes to prevent more people from dying the way Sorich did, by bringing drug abuse out of the shadows.

“It’s about saving a life," Moss said. "These are our children, these are our neighbors, our family members, our coworkers."

Petersen, who has since left prison and completed the terms of her probation, agrees.

“I wish that I would have made a better decision. I didn’t and because of that, I’ve paid the consequences, " Petersen said. “I have gone and talked to kids and talked to them about my story, just reaching out and hoping that one kid, like if they were in that situation, they will make the right decision. Or if they were offered drugs, that they will just think about me and be like, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to go down that path.’”

Sorich's parents still feel the sting of their loss nearly nine years later. While they contend their daughter's death was not an accident, Kathryn Sorich provided a statement saying she applauds Moss for her effort to save young lives.

The bill cleared the House Wednedsay by a vote of 68 to 0 with 7 absent/not voting. It's now before the Senate.

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