In Pennsylvania, people who use drugs together and try to save each other's lives can end up facing decades in prison. Under the state's "drug delivery resulting in death" charge, sharing drugs with a friend, even when both of you bought them together, can lead to a 40-year sentence if that friend dies of an overdose. This charge has been filed more than 680 times across the state in just the last five years.

Two York County cases now before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court show how far this can go. In one, a man was sentenced to 23.5 to 47 years after performing CPR on his girlfriend and calling 911 when she overdosed. A state Supreme Court justice called that case "definitely overcharged and definitely oversentenced," but said the court might not have the power to fix it alone.

That's why lawmakers need to act. Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states with a drug-induced homicide law that offers no legal protection for people who make a good-faith effort to call for help during an overdose. Without that protection, the fear of a decades-long sentence can be the difference between someone calling 911 and someone walking away.

Pennsylvania's General Assembly can close this gap by passing a good-faith 911 defense for drug-induced homicide charges, so trying to save a life is never the reason someone spends the rest of theirs behind bars.

Sign the petition to demand Pennsylvania lawmakers pass a good-faith 911 defense now, before more lives are lost to fear instead of overdoses.