A Missouri sheriff's department issued an alert on Facebook about contaminated drugs.
The post was shared more than 13,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. Some people online found the post funny, others did not.
Breaking Information: Southwest Missouri Supply Possibly Contaminated with Hepatitis and Staph.Methamphetamine...
Posted by Christian County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Drugs laced with unknown substances have killed countless people across the country. However, this wasn’t a message recovery organizations like the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery appreciated.
“Tricking them to trying to come in under some false pretenses just to arrest them is shameful, that's not why we're here,” Chad Sabora, director for Legislative Advocacy for the organization, responded.
The group helped introduce the “911 Good Samaritan Bill” in the House of Representatives. This bill would allow immunity from prosecution if a user called for help during an overdose.
This is something Kansas City-based First Call sees as a better way to help people get on the road to recovery.
Recovery Advocate Megan McKamy explained, “The ideal scenario would be that when somebody asks for help, a hand is out there to take theirs and show them how to get sober in a compassionate way.”
The Christian County Sheriff's Department said they didn't expect people to bring in their meth. But whatever the intention, the department didn't do anything wrong.
“Law enforcement is allowed to be misleading, as a matter of fact they can say things during an interrogation that are just not true,” explained attorney David Langston.
The Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery has tried to get the 911 Good Samaritan bill passed for the last four years. They hope to get it to a full House vote next week.
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Shannon Halligan can be reached at shannon.halligan@kshb.com.
