2023 New York Laws › PEN - Penal › Part 3 - Specific Offenses › Title M - Offenses Against Public Health and Morals › Article 220 - Controlled Substances Offenses › 220.78 - Witness or Victim of Drug or Alcohol Overdose.

§ 220.78 Witness or victim of drug or alcohol overdose.
1.  A  person who, in good faith, seeks health care for someone who is
experiencing a drug  or  alcohol  overdose  or  other  life  threatening
medical  emergency  shall  not be charged or prosecuted for a controlled
substance offense under this article or a cannabis offense under article
two hundred twenty-two of this title, other than  an  offense  involving
sale  for  consideration  or  other  benefit  or  gain,  or  charged  or
prosecuted for possession of alcohol by a person  under  age  twenty-one
years  under section sixty-five-c of the alcoholic beverage control law,
or for possession of drug paraphernalia under article thirty-nine of the
general  business  law,  with  respect  to  any  controlled   substance,
cannabis, alcohol or paraphernalia that was obtained as a result of such
seeking or receiving of health care.
2.  A  person  who is experiencing a drug or alcohol overdose or other
life threatening medical emergency and, in good faith, seeks health care
for himself or herself or is the subject of such a  good  faith  request
for  health  care,  shall  not be charged or prosecuted for a controlled
substance offense under this article or a cannabis offense under article
two hundred twenty-two of this title, other than  an  offense  involving
sale  for  consideration  or  other  benefit  or  gain,  or  charged  or
prosecuted for possession of alcohol by a person  under  age  twenty-one
years  under section sixty-five-c of the alcoholic beverage control law,
or charged or prosecuted for  possession  of  cannabis  or  concentrated
cannabis  by  a  person  under  the  age of twenty-one under section one
hundred thirty-two of the  cannabis  law,  or  for  possession  of  drug
paraphernalia  under  article  thirty-nine  of the general business law,
with respect to any substance, cannabis, alcohol or  paraphernalia  that
was obtained as a result of such seeking or receiving of health care.
3. Definitions. As used in this section the following terms shall have
the following meanings:
(a)  "Drug or alcohol overdose" or "overdose" means an acute condition
including, but not limited to, physical illness, coma,  mania,  hysteria
or  death,  which  is  the  result of consumption or use of a controlled
substance or alcohol and relates  to  an  adverse  reaction  to  or  the
quantity  of  the  controlled  substance  or alcohol or a substance with
which the controlled substance or alcohol was combined; provided that  a
patient's  condition shall be deemed to be a drug or alcohol overdose if
a prudent layperson, possessing an average  knowledge  of  medicine  and
health, could reasonably believe that the condition is in fact a drug or
alcohol overdose and (except as to death) requires health care.
(b) "Health care" means the professional services provided to a person
experiencing  a  drug  or alcohol overdose by a health care professional
licensed, registered or certified under title eight of the education law
or article thirty of the public health law who, acting within his or her
lawful scope of practice, may provide diagnosis, treatment or  emergency
services for a person experiencing a drug or alcohol overdose.
4.  It  shall  be an affirmative defense to a criminal sale controlled
substance offense under this article or  a  criminal  sale  of  cannabis
offense  under article two hundred twenty-two of this title, not covered
by subdivision  one  or  two  of  this  section,  with  respect  to  any
controlled  substance or cannabis which was obtained as a result of such
seeking or receiving of health care, that:
(a) the defendant, in good faith, seeks health care for someone or for
him or herself who is experiencing a drug or alcohol overdose  or  other
life threatening medical emergency; and
(b)  the  defendant  has  no  prior  conviction  for the commission or
attempted commission of a  class  A-I,  A-II  or  B  felony  under  this
article.
5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to bar the admissibility
of  any evidence in connection with the investigation and prosecution of
a crime with regard to another  defendant  who  does  not  independently
qualify  for  the bar to prosecution or for the affirmative defense; nor
with  regard  to  other  crimes  committed  by  a  person  who otherwise
qualifies under this section; nor shall  anything  in  this  section  be
construed  to bar any seizure pursuant to law, including but not limited
to pursuant to section thirty-three hundred eighty-seven of  the  public
health law.
6.  The  bar  to  prosecution described in subdivisions one and two of
this section shall not apply to the prosecution of a  class  A-I  felony
under this article, and the affirmative defense described in subdivision
four  of  this section shall not apply to the prosecution of a class A-I
or A-II felony under this article.