I come from a high school where graduates’ drug overdoses are not uncommon. I now go to a college where binge drinking and Greek life is not uncommon. After seeing what happened at Penn State, I can’t help but be sick to my stomach at the idea that he, and so many others, could still be alive if their ‘friends’ knew how to react.

Recently, the “causes of accidental deaths” statistics have changed, and overdose deaths have climbed to the top.

The Good Samaritan 911 Law, which exists similarly in 22 states, is a policy to provide immunity from arrest or prosecution for drug law violations for people who call for help at the scene of an overdose.

There are stories, too, where the Good Samaritan Law, or a similar policy, was not upheld and the person who called got in trouble. I read about a woman who called the police when her friend overdosed on heroin, and although she was probably the reason he lived, she was charged with several crimes and has a $7,500 bond.

That sucks. Don’t get me wrong. $7,500 is a lot of money. Getting charged with serious crimes really messes up your life. But you know what else messes up your life? Your friend losing theirs because you were too concerned about yourself. Because you were too scared you’d get in trouble. So many people die because their ‘friends’ don’t want to end up with that $7,500 bond. Or even a $20,000 bond. Now, they end up with a friend's lost life and still probably in trouble for being involved. Personally, I’d rather sit in jail for a couple years or pay a ton of money, than lose my friend when it could have been prevented.

At Penn State, a student, Timothy Piazza, recently died. He had been hazed on his fraternity’s bid night, drank until he was no longer able to stand, and then fell down a flight of 15 stairs. All under the watch of his fraternity brothers and fellow pledges. If the other fraternity members were to call the cops at this point, they might get in trouble for drinking. They might get in trouble for hazing. Their frat might be kicked off campus. They feared police involvement, so, they didn’t call. They waited. Surely their friend would wake up, just as so many college students do after a heavy night of drinking, and they would laugh about it the next day.

But what about when that doesn’t happen?

Timothy Piazza, like many other victims of overdose-related activities, wasn’t able to laugh about it the next day. After waiting 12 hours to call the police, his brothers found out that it was too late. Timothy finally was brought to the hospital but didn’t make it. His brothers are now facing a multitude of charges, including manslaughter, and the frat is banned from campus. Shockingly enough, the things that the other members were worried about, happened anyway, but because they didn’t call, Timothy lost his life, as well.

Now, I am not a doctor. I do not know for sure that he would have lived after sustaining such a traumatic head injury, even if he was brought immediately to the hospital. But, I am a college student. I have been around copious amounts of alcohol being consumed. I know several people who have been woken up in the hospital with their stomach being pumped after their friends called the cops because they had too much and their friends were worried for their life. I see, day-to-day, how serious drinking is. I am also a sister. And a daughter. And a friend. And if a scenario like this ever happened to me, even if I did not make it, I would think that my friends and family’s main concern was that they did everything they could to help me.

This should be seen as a PSA. The entire series of events at Penn State should be a wake-up call for not only fraternity members at colleges, but college students, and literally anyone who drinks, does drugs, or is around anyone who does anything that could cause them to be in a similar situation.

CALL THE POLICE.

The repercussions are so much worse if you don’t. These lives don’t have to continue being lost. Accidental overdoses don’t have to be the leading cause of death. For your sake, your friend’s sake, their family’s sake, call.