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Under a new protocol in Hancock County, police will investigate overdoses suspected to be caused by illegal drug use in order, but IU McKinney Professor Nicolas Terry said that plan could send a dangerous message.

A story in the Indianapolis Star on February 27 detailed the new protocol, designed to stop a “rotating door” of opioid overdose patients who are revived with an opioid overdose reversal drug like Naloxone, only to be back on the streets using again, authorities say.

Under the new plan, when police respond to an overdose call, Greenfield officers will investigate by default. Police will look for evidence indicating illegal drug use, like paraphernalia or residue. Even the use of Naloxone can help build a case. That information would then be used to establish probable cause to obtain a drug test, according to the IndyStar report.

Professor Terry, executive director of the Hall Center for Law and Health and Hall Render Professor of Law, is a researcher for IU's Addictions Grand Challenge, focusing on law and policy barriers to opioid abuse treatment and recovery. 

"I think that promotes the idea that Naloxone, which is a proven life-saving drug, is somehow equivalent to an illegal substance," Professor Terry said. "And if this false narrative is created or perceived ... fewer people will carry it and more people will die."

In Indiana, anyone can carry Naloxone, and Good Samaritan laws protect bystanders who administer the drug to someone who appears to be experiencing an opioid-related overdose. Professor Terry said the Hancock County prosecutor's new protocol criminalizes the life-saving tool. 

"It's a perversion of existing Indiana law and policy," Professor Terry told the IndyStar.