Medical Amnesty Law could save lives

Parties are an unavoidable part of college.

While they can definitely be fun, they can also take a turn for the worse pretty fast.

We'd be willing to bet that every reader out there knows someone, or at least knows OF someone, who has had to go to the hospital for an alcohol related issue, whether it's alcohol poisoning or an accident caused by too much drinking.

That can often put you or your friends in a very difficult situation.

Let's say, for example, that you're under 21.

You're at a party, drinking, and your best friend had way too much to drink. You know you have to get him or her medical attention.

But you don't want to call the authorities or take your friend to the health center because you're afraid of being cited for underage drinking.

Over the summer, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed the Medical Amnesty Bill into law.

The goal of this new law is to encourage you to get that friend the medical attention that he or she needs.

The Medical Amnesty Law states that an individual under the age of 21 can't be charged with underage consumption of alcohol if they seek medical attention for another person.

So if you call 911, University Police or EMS for your friend who had way too much to drink, you can't be charged with an underage.

You can, however, be cited with other alcohol-related charges such as disorderly conduct and public drunkenness, but the penalties for those are not as severe as an underage charge.

In order to be granted medical amnesty, you have to stay with your friend until the authorities arrive. If you report it to a CA (community assistant), and the CA calls the authorities, you also have to stay.

Which, really, you should want to do anyway. This is your best friend we're talking about.

While you can't be cited for an underage under the Medical Amnesty Law, your best friend who needs medical attention, can.

So far, during Governor Corbett's reign, he has made us loathe him for sharply reducing our state funding as a university. We have written only sarcastic, angry comments about him up until this point.

However, this new law has forced us to change our ways.

The Medical Amnesty Law can literally save lives, and we believe, wholeheartedly, that it will.

Students sometimes think twice about getting their friends the medical attention they desperately need because they're too afraid of being cited themselves.

Now, that fear is wiped out.

But the only way to make sure everyone knows about this new law is to spread the word. We're guessing most of you had no idea this law was ever proposed, let alone that it was passed.

So tell everyone you know.

This law can only succeed in saving lives if people know about it.

Otherwise, fear of an underage citation will continue to keep students from getting the medical attention they might need.

So next time you're at a party, make sure everyone knows about the new Medical Amnesty Law.

Because if things go too far, and you're the one in need of immediate medical attention, you wouldn't want your best friend to think twice about calling 911.