By: A sibling/caregiver/nurse My parents are retired. They worked their whole lives to provide for their children, including drives to Disney Worldat March break in a Ford caravan, summertime camps, and all of the day to day demands of looking after three children......
The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act (Bill C-224)
Bill C-224 is now the law in Canada. FAR supports this proposed legislation which provides immunity from prosecution for possession of drugs for personal use and breaches of parol or bail to anyone who calls 911 when someone is overdosing. The purpose of the Bill is to save the lives of drug users by eliminating some of the reasons witnesses to an overdose are hesitant to call for help. FAR believes that the Bill would save more lives if the immunity granted were expanded to cover all drug offences, as outlined in our Brief submitted to the Standing Committee on Health.
This position was subsequently adopted by 70 organizations, including FAR, in a Letter to The Honourable Jane Philpott, Federal Minister of Health entitled "ACTION = LIFE: Call for an Immediate Response to National Crisis of Opioid Overdose Deaths".