I was in a similar situation some years ago. I didn't cancel the ambulance and, yes, they kept her for some time (I forget how long). I don't know if it was specifically to detox or just for observation, but detox makes sense. She has never spoken to me again.

As with you, I don't know if I made the right decision, but in the moment I couldn't trust her to go on her merry way. In your case you had volunteers from the hotel offering to watch him. So idk. 🤷‍♀

In BC lots of people get training and carry Narcan for situations like this. Cancelling the ambulance was risky- better to have them attend and decide if anything is needed.

As someone stated already it's not possible to call off 911 ambulances in the USA. There's a reason for that policy.

Not judging you. Yet there are reasons for that policy.

The sad thing is that detox and rehab have a very high failure rate.
My daughter detoxed numerous times rehab twice. Died at 41. Her liver destroyed by vodka. It only works when the victim wants it to work.

one time we had a guy come into our office and use the restroom....but to smoke fentanyl or meth or whatever. he was in a stall. when i walked in the stench was so overwhelming. it was like a chemical smell i can't describe and the smoke was of a weird consistency....he wouldn't leave until we started beating down the door. these addicts really don't care about private or public property....people are starting to move out of ritzy parts of vancouver because they are doing their drugs in their doorways....i'm getting sick and tired of them "running" the city. fortunately i live in a town that doesn't have a train station linking it to downtown

All we can do is try, Good Job Jenny!

That is on all the Streets of San Francisco,
Hundreds of new hyperdermic needles
Each morning.

Always remember that if you call an ambulance but then cancel, you will always be on record as being the last known person to be with him.

The last known person is not the hotel worker because that worker isn't on record as being there and ultimately tending to the guy's needs because HE never made the call to 911, you did.

If the drug addict turns up dead in a parking lot an hour later and someone else calls an ambulance, the question that will be asked to you by police is, what connection do you have with this fellow or his death?, because your 911 call placed you at the scene an hour earlier which of course you cancelled.

Question is, why did you cancel the call? How can you prove that someone from the hotel came along and took the guy away with him? Do you know for sure if that guy was a hotel employee? Do you know for sure where he took the drug addict after they left you? Can you prove that you didn't kill the drug addict in the parking lot yourself by giving him more drugs? Are you his junkie?

When it comes to making 911 calls for any reason whatsoever, you immediately place yourself at the scene through your phone record to 911, which means you could be a witness to something and you could also be the perpetrator of a crime. That is why you should always ask someone else to call 911 to report a situation rather than doing it yourself, unless of course you have no other choice but to call yourself because nobody else is around.

But if you have no other choice and you make the 911 call, stick with it and stay with the guy until the EMS show up and then you identify yourself as the person who made the call. Then be prepared to give a statement to police. If the hotel worker took the guy with him, you must follow him and call 911 again to report their new location.

If your'e going to play the game of 'good Samaritan', you must always cover your own asss first, otherwise you become the prime suspect for anything you call 911 about which sometimes happens through guilt, including a fire that you are reporting. Did you start the fire? Are you an arsonist who starts fires and then calls 911 to report them so you can watch the fire trucks arrive?

Always remember, you place yourself at the scene anytime you call 911.

Cancel an ambulance? I don't think you can do that here in the States. Once they're called, that's it.

I think that person should have left him and let the paramedics make that call.

Thank you for doing something and not leaving him

Thank you for helping him. How heartbreaking.

You definitely made the right decision.

I saw some weirdo junky slumped over his steering wheel. He'd rolled to a stop under a bridge and his car was almost touching a bridge pillar. I called the cops to come and get him. He looked a mess.

I wouldnt have cancelled the ambulance, addicts wont fix themselves so he can deal with the medics on that one

Sounds like opiates of some kind….so sad

Are they going to let you know if he’s ok? 😐

W T H? So sad!

Did you grope his junk?

Next time it happens you should call the trash truck. 😄