SB 667

            
2020 SESSION

20104169D

SENATE BILL NO. 667


Offered January 8, 2020


Prefiled January 7, 2020

A BILL to amend and reenact � 18.2-251.03 of the Code of 
 Virginia, relating to arrest and prosecution when experiencing or reporting 
 overdoses.
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Patrons-- Boysko, Bell, Morrissey and McClellan

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Referred to Committee on the Judiciary

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
 
 
1. That � 18.2-251.03 of the Code of Virginia is amended and 
 reenacted as follows:
 
 
� 18.2-251.03. Arrest and prosecution when experiencing or 
 reporting overdoses.
 
 
A. For purposes of this section, "overdose" means a 
 life-threatening condition resulting from the consumption or use of a 
 controlled substance, alcohol, or any combination of such substances.
 
 
B. It shall be an 
 affirmative defense to No individual shall 
 be subject to arrest or prosecution of an 
 individual for the unlawful purchase, possession, or 
 consumption of alcohol pursuant to � 4.1-305, possession of a controlled 
 substance pursuant to � 18.2-250, possession of marijuana pursuant to � 
 18.2-250.1, intoxication in public pursuant to � 18.2-388, or possession of 
 controlled paraphernalia pursuant to � 54.1-3466 if:
 
 
1. Such individual, (i) in good faith, seeks or 
 obtains emergency medical attention (a) for 
 himself, if he is experiencing an overdose, or (b) for 
 another individual, if such other individual is experiencing an overdose, or (ii) is 
 experiencing an overdose and another individual, in good faith, seeks or 
 obtains emergency medical attention for such individual, by 
 contemporaneously reporting such overdose to a firefighter, as defined in � 
 65.2-102, emergency medical services personnel, as defined in � 32.1-111.1, a 
 law-enforcement officer, as defined in � 9.1-101, or an emergency 911 system;
 
 
2. Such individual remains at the scene of the overdose or at 
 any alternative location to which he or the person requiring emergency medical 
 attention has been transported until a law-enforcement officer responds to the 
 report of an overdose. If no law-enforcement officer is present at the scene of 
 the overdose or at the alternative location, then such individual shall 
 cooperate with law enforcement as otherwise set forth herein;
 
 
3. Such individual identifies himself to the law-enforcement 
 officer who responds to the report of the overdose; and
 
 
4. The evidence for the prosecution of an offense enumerated 
 in this subsection was would have been obtained only as a result of the an 
 individual seeking or obtaining emergency medical attention.
 
 
C. No individual may 
 assert the affirmative defense provided for in this The provisions of this section if the shall 
 not apply to any 
 person who sought or obtained seeks or obtains emergency 
 medical attention for himself or another individual, or 
 to a person experiencing an overdose when another individual 
 seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for him, 
 during the execution of a search warrant or during the conduct of a lawful 
 search or a lawful arrest.
 
 
D. This section does not establish an 
 affirmative defense protection from arrest 
 or prosecution for any individual or offense other than 
 those listed in subsection B.