Drug pundits will be all too familiar with this scenario, but a coroner in Victoria, Australia has found that the life of a young woman who fatally overdosed on the drug GHB, could have been saved simply by calling an ambulance.
The tragedy of this case also lies in the fact that the victim accidently ingested liquid GHB from a water bottle initially believing it to be water.
A drug dealer and several users then waited,hoping the woman would simply sleep off the effects and even rubbing speed into the gums of the woman believing it would counteract the effects of the GHB.
After it was clear that the woman was not reviving, the coroner concluded that those around her were simply too scared to call for help.
And therein lies a scenario that has happened a thousand times before. When people believe that they will get in trouble for drug use, they will not call the authorities, even in a life threatening situation.
Given the tragedy of this particular circumstance, it is perhaps time to open the debate for a change in the laws in special circumstance. Would granting legal immunity for drug related crimes to people who called an ambulance for suspected overdoses be a worse scenario than the tragedy that befell this young woman?