California Students Can Now Seek Overdose Help Without Fear of Expulsion

When TJ McGee overdosed in his UC Berkeley dorm room, his roommates hesitated. Not about calling for help, but about the consequences of calling for help. That chilling pause, born from fear of university discipline, is exactly what California's new Assembly Bill 602 aims to erase.

Because apparently, in the hierarchy of campus concerns, getting a student life violation might have previously outranked, you know, living.

Signed into law in October 2025 and kicking off in July 2026, AB 602 mandates that all public universities in California — we're looking at you, CSUs and UCs — must offer rehabilitation services for drug and alcohol use before any disciplinary action is taken post-overdose. The truly wild part? Students from Berkeley, Davis, and other universities actually helped draft the bill alongside Assemblymember Matt Haney.

The High Cost of Hesitation

Before this, campus rules could hit students with everything from housing removal to outright expulsion for substance use. Imagine being in a life-or-death situation and having to weigh calling 911 against your academic future. McGee knows that feeling. After his overdose, he was slapped with academic probation and navigated months of recovery alone. "No one asked if I was okay or pointed me to help," he recounted to California Assembly members.

Saanvi Arora, a UC Berkeley student who helped write the bill, put it even more starkly: some students would rather "leave it up to fate" than involve campus officials. Because fate, apparently, is less punitive than the Dean of Students.

Arora and Aditi Hariharan, president of the UC Student Association, didn't come to this fight lightly. Arora lost a close friend to an overdose at 15. Hariharan watched a high school friend drop out of college due to alcohol addiction and a complete lack of campus support. Hariharan's reasoning is grimly pragmatic: "You can’t engage in recovery if you’re already dead."

What the Law Actually Does (and Doesn't)

Now, this isn't a free pass to party like it's 1999 every weekend. The final version of AB 602 limits these protections to once per academic term. And, in a move that might raise an eyebrow or two, it doesn't cover bystanders who call for help for someone else. University officials, in earlier discussions, were reportedly concerned about creating a blanket shield for other rule violations. Because, you know, balance.

While Cal State is still figuring out the system-wide rollout, six UC campuses, including Berkeley and Davis, already have collegiate recovery programs. This new law builds on those, setting a statewide standard. Come summer, students at California public universities will have a legal right to treatment before punishment. Which, if you think about it, is a pretty basic human right finally codified. And for the students who fought for it, that right is everything.