Addresses public health consequences of laws creating criminal liability for accidental drug overdose and provides research supporting the following conclusions:
- Controlled substance homicide laws are inequitably enforced and charges brought under these laws represent extreme racial bias;
- Prosecutors who file controlled substance homicide charges are often motivated by false beliefs about the public health benefits such laws that are not supported by any systematic or scientific evidence;
- Controlled substance homicide laws undermine the effects of state 911 Good Samaritan Laws, which are well-tested and well-proven policy-level overdose-prevention strategies;
- Controlled substance homicide laws and charges brought under those laws increase the risk of overdose in the surrounding community; and
- The premise that drug suppliers and people who use drugs are distinct populations analogous to “exploiters” and “exploited victims” is false, does not reflect the realities of substance use in a criminalized market, and causes excess harm against people who use drugs, including excess overdose.