Imagine for a moment that you are under 21. If you already are it shouldn”t be too hard.
You may have had a few beers at a friend”s house on a Friday night. Your friend convinces you that it is a great idea to go to a party being thrown a few blocks away. After hanging out for a while, you lose track of your friend. When you go looking for them, you find that they need help.
Maybe they got too drunk and you can”t wake them up. Maybe they were sexually assaulted. Maybe they slipped and fell and are bleeding badly. There are countless reasons they may need medical attention.
You now face the uncomfortable question of how to respond. Would calling 911 get you into more trouble than you already are? Is seeking the attention they clearly need worth the consequences you could face later?
Sitting and reading this paper while presumably sober, the decision may not seem that difficult. But for a young student who is stressed, scared and under the influence of alcohol, this choice could be terrifying. While we can hope that each of us would do the right thing and call for help, the fear of legal repercussions stops some from picking up their phone.
Calling for help should never be illegal.
It”s worth noting that in Moscow we have an incredible force of dedicated police officers. They have made it clear that in cases of medical emergency, they are interested in saving lives, not punishing people for underage drinking. They want you to make that call for help, with the assurance that public safety is their No. 1 priority.
Furthermore, the University of Idaho has an amnesty policy in its code of conduct. This means that you cannot be punished for violating the code for underage drinking if the university learned of your drinking as a result of you calling for help in a medical emergency.
However, Idaho law still does not guarantee that you would be safe from prosecution. Thirty-one other states have such laws, called medical amnesty, including Oregon, Washington, Montana and Utah. These laws help keep people safe by removing barriers to seeking medical assistance.
With so many of our neighboring states adopting medical amnesty, it”s time for Idaho to address this issue. We, as students from across Idaho, need to come together to help make sure we have the support from our state to help keep each other safe.
Over the coming legislative session, the Associated Students of the University of Idaho (ASUI) hope to make progress on this legislation. We already have begun the process of talking about these issues to our legislators, but it will take more than just us. Get engaged, speak to your representative and help make our state a safer place for students.
Max Cowan is the president of ASUI. He can be reached at [email protected]