The OD death has become a routine of pathos and pity.

Fatalities from drug overdoses are occurring in Butler County at a rate of three every two weeks. There could be more than 80 overdose deaths by year’s end, exceeding the record 74 OD fatalities confirmed by the coroner’s office in 2016.

There can’t be much that’s worse than the unprecedented numbers of overdose deaths.

Except maybe this: Addicts are surviving what would be a fatal overdose, only to repeat it over and over again.

That’s what’s happening, thanks to naloxone, the opioid antidote drug carried by EMTs and other emergency personnel.

With the application of naloxone, also known by its brand name Narcan, addicts in full overdose are being revived, only to perform the suicidal ritual over again later — and at our expense, no less, since the Narcan supplied to emergency response personnel is paid for with tax dollars.

Wednesday’s Butler Eagle included a front page report of three overdoses from the evening before. All three men were administered Narcan. One died. The other two were revived.

One of the two survivors, a 34-year-old man, was found unconscious near the Memorial Park pool. Butler police officers gave him two doses of Narcan, which revived him.

A family member reported the other nonfatal overdose to 911. Butler Ambulance paramedics administered Narcan to revive the 37-year-old Wayne Street resident. For this second survivor, it was the second time in less than a week that emergency crews had given him Narcan for an overdose at home. The previous time, April 12, he admitted that he’d shot up five doses of heroin.

Both survivors were allowed to walk away from the incident without any consequence. Both refused additional treatment.

Pennsylvania law is set up so those revived from an overdose, and anyone who stays with them to render aid, can’t be charged with a crime, even if they still have illegal drugs in their possession. This allows drug users to walk away from a life-saving Narcan treatment. This is known as the Good Samaritan law. The underlying notion is that the fear of prosecution might prevent some addicts from seeking life-saving help.

Can you imagine police allowing an intoxicated driver to walk away from the scene of a serious accident? Worse yet, can you imagine a drunken driver who is a repeat offender being allowed to walk away? Yet that essentially is what happened Tuesday and on April 12 at a home on Wayne Street.

That’s our state law. Nobody doubts that Narcan is saving lives — but the question remains whether it’s changing any lives for the better.

There needs to be an addition to the process of treating drug overdoses. There needs to be a period of mandatory medical observation and discretion, not for gathering criminal evidence, but instead for treating and reversing fatal addictions.

That might happen soon. On the same day the Eagle published its report about the overdoses, the state House Health Committee advanced a bill that would recognize drug overdoses as a cause for involuntary mental health commitments — and would require a lockup of three days or longer for treatment.

Introduced by Rep. Matt Baker, R-Tioga County, the bill would recognize drug addiction as an illness, one which presents a “clear and present danger” when the ingestion of drugs makes the user unconscious or in need of medical treatment to “prevent imminent death or serious bodily harm.”

Baker’s bill would force affected addicts into a treatment center where they would be fully evaluated and counseled as to their treatment needs.

At least 30 states already require involuntary commitment of some sort for substance abuse, according to the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

The Good Samaritan law came about because other approaches were not working. It originally lifted a lot of hopes and expectations, but it’s becoming clear that Good Samaritan doesn’t work all that well either. Let’s not continue to pretend it does.

There is no one-size-fits-all remedy for drug abuse. The reality is that every approach can be criticized and described as unproven. It can be discouraging. And yet we can’t give up the fight.