Lakewood Police Department Policy and Procedure Policies and Procedures		Effective Date: 08/16/2022
	Policy Number: PP-9135

A. Policy

As part of its response to an increase in overdose deaths involving fentanyl and other controlled substances, the Colorado General Assembly determined that they would develop a public education campaign, enact a properly calibrated sentencing scheme, prescribe specific penalties for the unlawful manufacturing, distribution, dispensing, or selling of those substances and include specifically designed penalties for persons whose illegal activity leads to the death of another person. Also included in the fentanyl accountability act was a revision and analysis of the emergency overdose immunity law, 18-1-711. The law encourages people to seek medical assistance for persons who are suffering from a drug or alcohol overdose crisis and provides immunity from prosecution in certain instances.  The analysis requires statewide law enforcement reporting of overdose incidents to the District Attorney’s Office for three years in order to assess its impact on sentencing and filing of counts based on the law.

As used in this section, “emergency drug or alcohol overdose event” means an acute condition including, but not limited to, physical illness, coma, mania, hysteria, or death resulting from the consumption or use of a controlled substance, or of alcohol, or another substance with which a controlled substance or alcohol was combined, and that a layperson would reasonably believe to be a drug or alcohol overdose that requires medical assistance

B. Procedure:

1. The Immunity for persons who suffer or report an emergency drug or alcohol overdose event statute, CRS § 18-1-711: 

 A person is immune from arrest and prosecution for an offense described below if: 

a. The person reports in good faith an emergency drug or alcohol overdose event to a law enforcement officer, to the 911 system or to a medical provider; 

b. The person remains at the scene of the event until a law enforcement officer or an emergency medical responder arrives, or if the person remains at the facilities of the medical provider until a law enforcement officer arrives. A defendant not only needs to report but must stay on scene until law enforcement arrives, cooperate with law enforcement, and admit to all the crimes that they are seeking immunity from. Full implication of this statute will be rare.

c. The person identifies himself or herself to and cooperates with, the law enforcement officer, emergency medical responder, or medical provider. 

d. The offense arises from the same course of events from which the emergency drug or alcohol overdose event arose. 

e. The immunity described also extends to the person who suffered the emergency drug or alcohol overdose event if all of the conditions of this section are satisfied. 

2. The immunity described above applies to the following criminal offenses: 

a. Unlawful possession of a controlled substance, as described in section 18-18-403.5 (2); 

b. Unlawful use of a controlled substance, as described in section 18-18-404; 

c. If committed on or after March 1, 2020, unlawful possession of two ounces or less of marijuana, as described in section 18-18-406 (5)(a)(I) prior to its repeal in 2021; or more than two ounces of marijuana but not more than six ounces of marijuana or not more than three ounces of marijuana concentrate, as described in section 18-18-406 (4)(c); or more than six ounces of marijuana or more than three ounces of marijuana concentrate, as described in section 18-18-406 (4)(b); 

d. Open and public display, consumption, or use of less than two ounces of marijuana, as described in section 18-18-406 (5)(b)(I); 

e. Transferring or dispensing two ounces or less of marijuana from one person to another for no consideration, as described in section 18-18-406 (5)(c); 

f. Use or possession of synthetic cannabinoids or salvia divinorum, as described in section 18-18-406.1; 

g. Possession of drug paraphernalia, as described in section 18-18-428; 

h. Illegal possession or consumption of ethyl alcohol or marijuana by an underage person or illegal possession of marijuana paraphernalia by an underage person, as described in section 18-13-122; and 

i. A violation of section 18-18-405 (2)(a)(III)(A), if the unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing, or sale of the material, compound, mixture, or preparation weighs not more than four grams and contains any amount of fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or an analog thereof as described in section 18-18-204 (2)(g). Distribution crimes are only covered up to four grams. If a dealer has more than four grams and meets all the elements of the “Good Samaritan” statute, they are still liable for that distribution. 

3. Nothing in this section prohibits the prosecution of a person for an offense other than an offense listed in this section or to limit the ability of a district attorney or a law enforcement officer to obtain or use evidence obtained from a report, recording, or any other statement provided pursuant to subsection 1 of this section to investigate and prosecute an offense other than an offense listed in subsection 2 of this section.