A mother whose son died after an accident linked to an adverse reaction to drugs is backing a proposed law change that would legally protect people who call 111 to help people affected by an overdose.
Shelley O'Dwyer's son Jacob Gunnell died in 2022 after a negative reaction to LSD, and a police statement told her emergency services were not called.
The Drug Overdose (Assistance Protection) Legislation Bill by Green MP Kahurangi Carter recently passed its first reading in Parliament, aimed at removing a key barrier which prevented people from calling 111.
The change meant a person calling 111 because someone was overdosing or having a serious reaction to drugs could not be prosecuted for low-level drug offences such as personal possession, having a pipe or other utensils, or sharing drugs socially with a small group of friends.
It did not protect drug dealing, violent offending or Crimes Act offences and it preserved accountability for serious criminal behaviour.
Speaking to Breakfast, O’Dwyer said had this law been in place, it may have saved her son’s life.
"I need to speak up to obviously save lives, to bring the awareness that if we ring an ambulance straight away, that we can save people's lives.
"Because in Jacob’s instance, I definitely feel that we could have saved his life.
"It’s really hard to live with 'what ifs?'. What if she had called an ambulance? The sadness, the anger that I go through. But I have to let that anger go because it takes a lot of energy.
"But this is Jacob’s legacy. You need to have a buddy system to make sure people are safe, and just call an ambulance straight away if you’re in doubt.”
A 'positive and happy' person
O’Dwyer described her son as “confident, easy-going, outgoing, happy and positive”.
At the age of 17, O’Dwyer said he worked as a local gym instructor and "loved helping people with their fitness".
“Friends describe Jacob as kind, caring and cheeky. Jacob had so much to live for," she said.
'Complete shock' following incident
On December 30 2022, 24-year-old Jacob was celebrating New Year's early when he took LSD with a friend and had a bad reaction to the drug.
She said he ran from his apartment in Auckland’s CBD and lay down in the middle of the busy street.
She said the friend followed him outside, and despite efforts to get him to come back to the flat, he was "clearly not in a good way" and continued to run away on foot.
"I understand he ran over this gate, jumped over a fence. We found out through CCTV camera that he'd jumped over Symonds Street Bridge and landed in the overpass. He was found the next night by the police," she explained.
She said when the police showed up at their door, the family was in complete shock.
"I just knew, they didn't have to say anything. But my brain was just telling me 'this can't be true'. Shelley, stop, stop. This isn't happening... I just couldn't do anything."
She said identifying him at the morgue was "like an out of body experience".
“It was just awful that one minute my son was there, and the next minute, he wasn’t. It was the worst nightmare a parent can go through. And we’re having to live with this every day, this grief.”
Law change would 'make a big difference' - NZ Drug Foundation
NZ Drug Foundation Executive Director Sarah Helm said three people die each week from "entirely preventable overdose fatalities" in Aotearoa.
"I speak to other parents, loved ones and people who have had non-fatal overdoses and they all believe this law will make a big difference."
In many of these cases, she said people hesitated to call for help because they were scared of getting themselves or their friends in trouble with the law.
"It’s those delays and lack of calling that we are really trying to address here," she said.
She said research last year found 40% of people said they'd be worried about calling 111 if someone was having a bad reaction to drugs.
Overseas, similar laws (sometimes called Good Samaritan laws) have reduced opioid overdose deaths by 10–15%. In Aotearoa that could mean 15-23 lives saved every year.
She said she hoped for good cross-party support of the Bill, and said today at midnight submissions would close.
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