Legal

1) I have been arrested on a drug offense. Where can I get legal help?

The Drug Policy Alliance Network engages in high impact litigation around drug policy issues but is unfortunately unable to provide legal advice or representation for individuals. If you need legal assistance, please check our legal referrals page. Links to legal information are provided as a convenience to our readers and do not constitute political or professional endorsement by or affiliation with Drug Policy Alliance.

2) Where can I obtain a copy of the drug laws in my state?

Here are three sites with free access to state laws:

• University of Michigan: State Legal Resources on the Web
• Legal Information Institute: State Statutes on the Internet
• Lexis-Nexis: Michie State Code Publication

Medical Marijuana

3) How can I find out how to obtain a prescription for medical marijuana?

Because medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, doctors are not able to write a prescription for medical marijuana. But if state law permits medical marijuana, doctors in those states can recommend marijuana without fear of arrest.

There are currently twelve states that allow doctors to recommend and patients to use medical marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Even if you live on one of these states, finding a doctor to recommend marijuana can be a difficult task. There is, for obvious reasons, no 'registry' of doctors amenable to recommending medical marijuana. We usually advise people to develop a good, strong relationship with an open-minded physician and then bring the issue up. A doctor that knows you well is much more likely to recommend marijuana to you.

In California, patients can obtain a list of supportive doctors from California NORML.

If a medical marijuana law has not been passed in your state, we encourage you to work towards changing marijuana laws so doctors can recommend and patients can use medical marijuana. To this end, there are a number of ways you take action, as outlined in our Action Center. Or, you may want to contact one of the following state-based medical marijuana organizations:

California - California NORML
Hawaii - The Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i
Oregon - Oregon Public Health Service
Washington - Washington Citizens for Medical Rights

There are more medical marijuana advocacy groups available. Please see the links in our Marijuana: The Facts section.

4) What is the status of medical marijuana laws in my state?

There are currently twelve states that allow doctors to recommend and patients to use medical marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The texts of these medical marijuana laws are available at our Info for Litigators.

In Washington, D.C., voters approved a medical marijuana ballot initiative, however Congress has prevented the law from taking effect. Other states have passed laws that authorize medical marijuana research programs or have passed symbolic legislation favoring medical marijuana. For details on these laws visit Info for Litigators or read the report published by the Marijuana Policy Project.

To get active and help change medical marijuana laws visit our Action Center or contact one of the following state-based medical marijuana organizations:

California - California NORML
Hawaii - The Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i
Oregon - Oregon Public Health Service
Washington - Washington Citizens for Medical Rights

There are more medical marijuana advocacy groups available. Please see the links in our Marijuana: The Facts section.

Drug Testing

5) I have received false positive test results on an employer mandated drug test. Do I have any recourse?

There have been many cases where Ibuprofen has shown up as marijuana during a drug test. This stems from the nature of drug tests which don't actually test for drugs per se, but test for drug metabolites (the chemical by-product of drugs that have been used days or weeks in the past and have broken down.) Many legal drugs, such as Ibuprofen, share similar chemicals with illegal drugs and thus can cause "false positives" for illegal drug use. With proper care drug testers can greatly reduce the chance of falsely accusing someone of drug use.

Two things that are vital to ensure that innocent people don't falsely test positive for drug abuse are as follows:

1. The most important safe-guard is to correctly re-test all positives. Generally drug testers use a simple Immunoassay test to examine someone's urine. Immunoassay tests can be horribly inaccurate. That's why they should ONLY be used as a screening test. All positives should be re-tested using a more expensive but much more accurate testing procedure known as Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). Not using GC/MS as confirmation tests greatly increases the chances that innocent people will test positive. (Unfortunately, many employers don't bother to use this second, more expensive test to make absolutely sure that positives are "real" positives.) While GC/MS is itself not 100% reliable, used correctly it can greatly reduce the chance of an error occurring.
   
   
2. Another way to safe-guard people from false positives is using a Medical Review Officer (MRO) in the drug testing program. A MRO works with those subject to drug tests to determine what legal products they've taken recently that could throw off the urine test. MROs are also experts at reading the results of drug tests and making determinations on whether someone tested positive for illegal drug use, or for some other reason.

If your case involves the unreliability of the sweat patch drug testing device, please contact our office at legalaffairs@drugpolicy.org.

Grass Roots

6) How can I be more involved in this issue? What can I do to help?

There is a wide range of activities you can participate in to help end the war on drugs from writing a letter the editor, to joining DPA Network. Several suggestions can be found at our Action Center.

7) How can I start an organization in my area? Does the Alliance have local chapters?

The Drug Policy Alliance Network does not have chapters, and the locations of our offices are chosen for a variety of strategic and organizational reasons. While our organization is always evolving, there are no plans to open other new offices or create chapters in the forseeable future.

As the largest drug policy reform organization in the United States, we work closely with a variety of reform organizations in nearly every state and major city in the nation and various countries around the world. Many of these organizations receive financial assistance through our grants program.

Other Drugs

8) Why is there no mention of the most harmful drugs, tobacco and alcohol on this site?

We generally support effective public health meadures to reduce cigarette use and its harms -- but our mission focuses overwhelmingly on reducing the harms of illicit drug use and drug prohibition.

Drug Education

9) How should I discuss drugs with my children?

For years, our first line of defense against drugs has been school-based drug education, but research shows that the "just say no" programs provided in most schools, do little to prevent drug use among America's teens.

Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum, Director Emerita, DPA San Francisco and Safety First Program, has written the booklet, Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens and Drugs to provide parents with the tools needed to evaluate and discuss strategies for protecting their teenagers from drug abuse. For more information see www.safety1st.org.

Methadone

10) Can my physician prescribe methadone?

The Narcotic Addict Treatment Act of 1974 limited opiate agonist treatment primarily to regulated treatment programs, which has resulted in a treatment shortage. Recently the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment have are in the process of developing Office-Based Opioid Treatment (OBOT) to make agonist treatment more available.

11) How will methadone interact with prescription drugs I am taking?

We cannot dispense medical advice, but suggest that you visit www.opiateaddictionrx.info and submit a question at their Ask Our MDs section.

12) Where can I find a methadone clinic?

Check the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). In addition, the Addiction Treatment Forum Web site includes a Methadone Treatment Locator .

13) I am traveling soon and want to make sure I can still obtain methadone.

INDRO e.V., a non-profit and non-government advocacy organisation for harm reduction and rational drug policies publishes a worldwide travel guide for methadone.

14) Is there a way to report unfair Methodone Treatment?

You may want to look at the Addiction Treatment Watchdog Web site. They provide a forum to report abuses in the clinic system. You also may want to contact your state methadone authorities. Treatment.org has contact information for each state.

Grants

15) What grant programs do you offer?

The Drug Policy Alliance Network's partner organization, the Drug Policy Alliance, sponsors an advocacy grants program that supports organizations that work to establish reasonable and compassionate drug policy. For more information, including guidelines and application forms, please visit our grants webpages.