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Your friend stops breathing at a party. Someone in the room has pills, and everyone knows it. In that moment, a lot of people freeze, because they’re afraid the call for help will end with their own arrest. Texas law has something to say about that fear. It protects some callers, it leaves others exposed, and since 2023 it can treat the person who shared the drug as a murder suspect. Here’s how the pieces fit together, and why the answer is still to call 911.
In 2021, the Legislature passed House Bill 1694, also known as the Jessica Sosa Act. It created a defense to prosecution for certain low-level drug offenses when a person calls for help during a possible overdose. The defense covers possession of small amounts of controlled substances, marijuana, dangerous drugs, and drug paraphernalia. For a Penalty Group 1 drug, including fentanyl, that means possession of less than one gram.
To use the defense, the caller must have requested emergency medical help for a possible overdose and been the first person to make that request. If the call was for someone else, the caller must have stayed on the scene until help arrived and cooperated with medical personnel and law enforcement. The person who overdosed can use the defense too.
The defense comes with conditions that shut many people out. It’s not available if you’ve called 911 for a possible overdose at any time in the 18 months before the incident. It’s not available if you’ve used the defense before. It’s not available if you have certain prior drug convictions or were committing another offense at the time. Evidence that officers find while responding to the call can still be used to prosecute offenses the defense doesn’t cover.
The law also creates a defense, not immunity. An officer can still arrest you. The defense gets raised in court, and your defense lawyer has to prove it applies.
| The Situation | Does the Defense Apply? |
|---|---|
| You call 911 for a friend, stay until EMS arrives, cooperate, and have less than a gram on you. | It can apply, as long as none of the exclusions fit your history. |
| You called 911 for another overdose last year. | It doesn’t. A call within the previous 18 months blocks the defense. |
| You used the defense in an earlier case. | It doesn’t. The defense is available once. |
| You leave before the ambulance arrives. | It doesn’t. A caller helping someone else has to stay and cooperate. |
| Officers find more than a gram, or evidence of sales. | It doesn’t. The defense covers small-amount possession, not larger amounts or delivery. |
| You’re the person who gave your friend the pill. | It doesn’t. The Good Samaritan law doesn't cover delivery, and delivery is what the fentanyl murder law targets. |
House Bill 6 took effect September 1, 2023. It allows prosecutors to charge a person with murder when the person knowingly manufactures or delivers fentanyl, and someone dies from it. The State doesn’t have to prove an intent to kill. Murder is a first-degree felony, punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison.
“Delivery” in Texas law doesn’t require a sale. Handing a pill to a friend, splitting a purchase, or passing a pill across the table can all count. Harris County prosecutors started filing these cases soon after the law took effect, and in August 2026, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office announced a murder charge against a man accused of supplying fentanyl that killed an 18-year-old.
These cases rarely start at the scene. Investigators build them afterward from the victim’s phone, social media messages, payment apps, and location data. A call for help doesn't create that evidence. It already exists on the phone in your friend’s pocket.
Every minute matters during an opioid overdose. Naloxone, sold over the counter as Narcan, can reverse it, and paramedics carry it on every call. A person who stays, calls, and helps is in a far better position than one who runs, both morally and legally. Leaving a friend to die doesn’t erase the text messages that show where the pill came from. It only removes the chance to save a life and the chance to show a jury you tried.
Fentanyl death investigations can take weeks or months. If a detective contacts you after an overdose, don'’ agree to an interview without a lawyer. Don’t delete messages or apps from your phone, because destroying evidence after you know an investigation is underway can create a separate tampering charge. Don’t discuss the night in group chats or on social media.
If you’re charged under HB 6, the defense focuses on the elements the State has to prove. Did you knowingly deliver fentanyl, or did you believe the substance was something else? Did the substance you provided cause the death, or did other drugs or other sources play a role? Toxicology reports, phone extractions, and the timeline all need independent review.
The call you’re afraid to make is the one most likely to save a life, and the one a jury is most likely to remember in your favor.
If you called for help during an overdose, or investigators want to talk to you about a fentanyl death, call Denuna & Westbrook at 713-966-0253 or visit texasdwlaw.com. We’ll review what happened, protect you during the investigation, and raise every defense the law allows.
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