Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Accidental drug overdoses is the number one cause of deaths in the United States, even exceeding motor vehicle deaths. The rate of accidental overdoses has more than doubled from 1999 to 2015 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). As a response to the increasing overdose deaths, in 2007, New Mexico was the first state to pass a Good Samaritan Law. Today, 32 states have enacted similar legislation. Generally, these policies attempt to encourage witnesses or those experiencing an overdose to call 911 by providing immunity from arrest, charge or prosecution of possession of narcotics. Advocates of the law argue that enacting the law can potentially save lives by encouraging individuals to seek medical help in the event of an overdose. Given the rapid adoption of 911 Good Samaritan policies among states across the nation, it is surprising that little research has been conducted to examine the effectiveness of 911 Good Samaritan policies at the population level. To evaluate the impact of the 911 Good Samaritan Law, we use data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project to compare hospital room emergency departments and hospital admissions before and after the adoption of the policy in New York State in 2011 and the State of New Jersey, where the policy was not adopted until 2013. Specifically, we examine monthly variation across hospitals of different classifications in New York and New Jersey at the monthly level using a difference-in-difference estimator which takes advantage of the overlap between 2010-2012.