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SANTA FE — New Mexico has a new law aimed at encouraging those who overdose on drugs - and their friends, family or fellow partygoers - to call 911.

The measure, signed into law this week by Gov. Bill Richardson, provides limited immunity from prosecution for people who seek medical help for overdoses.

New Mexico is the first state to pass such a law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"If we can encourage people to save themselves or others from a drug-related death or trauma, then we should do that," Richardson said in a statement issued by his office.

Richardson, who is running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, also signed a bill this week legalizing the use of marijuana by some seriously ill patients under a program to be run by the state Department of Health.

State Sen. Richard Martinez, whose northern New Mexico district has a long-standing heroin problem, hopes the overdose-assistance bill he sponsored will deter people from dumping unconscious overdose victims outside hospitals or other places where they may be discovered too late.

"I think a lot of people are just afraid of being prosecuted," the Democratic lawmaker from Espa¤ola said Thursday.

"I know there are people partying with other people in their homes, and they're doing drugs, and somebody overdoses and they just leave," said Martinez, a retired magistrate.

New Mexico had more than 300 unintentional deaths in 2005 from overdoses of illicit or prescription drugs, according to the Department of Health. Of those, 125 involved heroin.

The new law says someone who overdoses, or someone who seeks help in that situation, can't be prosecuted for drug possession if the evidence was gained as a result of asking for assistance.

And the act of asking for help may be used as a mitigating factor in a drug-related criminal prosecution under the new law, which takes effect June 15.

Reena Szczepanski, director of the Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico, which lobbied for the bill, said "it's about putting life first."

"These deaths are preventable. . . . The majority of drug-related overdoses occur in the presence of close friends, family or acquaintances," she said.

Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico also lobbied for the medical marijuana bill.