The university appears unlikely to adopt a policy this school year granting amnesty to students suffering from alcohol or drug overdoses or friends who call 911 to get them help.

But supporters of the policy gained allies last week in Annapolis, where state legislators are considering implementing a policy statewide.

A number of universities across the country have adopted some form of medical amnesty or Good Samaritan policy in recent years.

But the University Senate’s Student Conduct Committee, which has been studying the issue, said in a report sent Tuesday to Senate Chair Bill Montgomery that it wasn’t ready to recommend a change in school policy.”Perhaps one of the most critical outcomes of our research,” the report read, “was that we learned that we were not qualified to recommend solutions at this time.”

The report recommended the university develop education tools to help identifying alcohol XXXXXXXXX poisoning, to be distributed during new student orientation.

Montgomery said supporters of the bill would have to make sure it cleared legal hurdles.

“I have a feeling this is a long way off,” Montgomery said, “but it’s a start.”

A new policy could come from the state instead. Del. Kriselda Valderrama (D-Prince George’s) has introduced a bill that would give someone suffering from drug or alcohol overdose and people who help them limited immunity from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.

“We’re trying to save lives,” Valderrama said, “no matter the cause of death.”

Valderrama cited the example of Daniel Reardon, a university student who died of alcohol poisoning in 2002. When Reardon passed out during a night of drinking at a fraternity house, members of the fraternity laid him on a couch and took turns watching him rather than call police, according to court records.

The House of Delegates’ judiciary committee will hold a hearing on the bill in March. The State Senate hasn’t taken up the issue yet. Valderrama, a freshman legislator, said she wasn’t sure if the bill would make much progress this session.

“My hope is that the committee will give it an open mind,” she said.

Naomi Long, the D.C. metro area director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who worked on the bill with Valderrama, said only one other state – New Mexico – has enacted a similar bill and that a similar law is also being drafted in Washington state.

Long cited a recent report by the Baltimore City Health Department as proof that Maryland needs Good Samaritan legislation.

“The number of overdose deaths is similar to the number of people being murdered,” she said, with both numbers hovering slightly between 200 and 300 in the city of Baltimore.

The Student Conduct Committee report recommended a survey be conducted to determine how much students know alcohol poisoning and how they react when friends are in danger. The committee set an early September deadline for completing the survey.

Although many schools have adopted Good Samaritan policies, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the university’s only peer institution to pass one.

Of 61 colleges surveyed about their medical amnesty policies in a report cited by the committee, only four were large, public universities.

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