In an opioid epidemic that kills more than 100 Americans daily, many families of overdose victims feel helpless when it comes to convincing their loved ones to seek treatment.
Police and other first responders — who often rescue the same people again and again — are frustrated about their lack of authority to detain users long enough for their heads to clear so they can consider treatment. In Tampa, Fl., police, health care professionals and families have a powerful legal tool not available in many other places: the 1993 Marchman Act. Families and health care professionals can use the state law to “marchman,” or commit people involuntarily into substance abuse treatment when they are deemed a danger to themselves or others, Stateline reports.
Tampa’s Hillsborough County accounts for less than seven percent of the state’s population and more than 40 percent of its Marchman commitments. Police use the Marchman Act to pick up people without a court order and take them to a designated stabilization and assessment center. Addiction professionals use the law when a patient fails to show up for treatment. Parents and friends use it when they fear a loved one’s life is at risk.
Across the US, state lawmakers are grappling with how to give first responders and medical professionals the same kind of legal leeway without violating drug users’ civil liberties.
“It’s been one of the most hotly debated opioid issues of the past year,” said Sherry Green of the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws. More than 400 people in the Tampa area were involuntarily committed into addiction assessment and treatment last year. More than two-thirds completed court-ordered programs. At least 33 states have laws that allow loved ones and others to involuntarily commit people who put their lives at risk by using drugs, says the Alliance.
3 Comments
Forced treatment is a civil rights abortion. you’d have to consider forced treatment for all addictions—such as the internet,exercise,cell phone use(can cause accidental death in numerous ways),sex. To force addicts into assessment wont guarantee they wont beat doctor’s games and be back on the street in 72 hrs. Users are cunning,clever and know how the system works,more so,they know the “right answers”. Users are able to swindle strangers and family out of money,merchandise to get drugs-forced committment is best used for violent psych problems,delusional,people that actually declare suicidal intention. Acts of overdose during drug use are NOT intentional acts of attempting suicide,and an addict will know that and be able to beat any psychological questioning like,”do u want to hurt yourself,are u sad,do u have a plan” those are bs questions anyway.they dont assess a person’s real intentions. This action strips a persons civil rights.u have a right to partake in whatever you please,whether t be heroin,meth,cocaine,alcohol,weed or sex. You cant commit people if they’re just living their lives.No sense forcing something that they’ll just violate anyway.
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Actually this is the greatest idea ever. As a parent of a loved one struggling with addiction I’m less abs less worried about his civil rights than his death. He is homeless, running around doing drugs, ending up with criminal record when all he needs in reality is a treatment. Research states clearly that frontal lobe is severely damaged when using drugs daily so to expect someone to make decisions for themselves is lunacy. Research also clearly states that most people need 5-6 times rehab to understand the need to get healthy and enjoy life and their civil rights. Harvard reported most drug addicts need 90 days of treatment before they could see clearly the nature of their disease. And no phone addiction can’t kill you, one fentanyl would.
My son needs this court ordered treatment right now,and so does my daughter. They have been addicts for 15 yrs. Thank you for the information, I will start the research.