On or before August 31, dozens of Americans are expected to sign a document intended to be part of their last will and testament. Like most of us, they don't want to die any time soon. However, because they have a history of opioid misuse--past or present--they face a real risk of overdose. And they don't want anyone to be charged with murder for providing their drugs, should they accidentally meet this fate.
Unfortunately, as overdose deaths have increased in America in recent years, so has the desire to avenge them by prosecuting friends, family members and others for what's become known as "drug induced homicide." A May investigation by the New York Times found that there had been over 1,000 such prosecutions since 2015 in just 15 states--and that they almost doubled between 2015 and 2017 alone.
These cases often involve charges against fellow users who were present at an overdose or people with whom the deceased purchase drugs. A tiny minority of such cases ... involve dealers slightly above street level. But many of the defendants are people with their own addictions, most of whom barely get by, let alone make kingpin-level profits.
To these prosecutions, the members of a coalition of people who use drugs called the Urban Survivors Union want to say collectively, "Not in our name."
And International Overdose Awareness Day, which started in 2001 in Australia and now includes hundreds of events around the world, seemed as good a time as any to declare their intent in what they're calling the Last Will and Testament Initiative.
