California's new law means you might be headed to a house in Malibu rather than a jail cell at the Twin Towers.

California just enacted a new law that allows for many crimes to be punished with rehab instead of incarceration. Many defense attorneys haven't even explored its full application yet, but we are ready to work alongside yours to make sure that you reap the full benefits of this revolutionary shift in California's approach to drug addiction and crime.

Gerry Brown recently passed AB 1810 which expands the use of the mental health defense in criminal cases. Specifically, it allows for many disorders listed in the DSM (the manual used by mental health professionals like psychologists and social workers) to qualify for the same protections and rights previously afforded only to those suffering from more obvious psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. 

What this means is that when you've been up for days due to drugs and do something crazy that you would never normally do if you were sober, you'll be able to get a similar defense to the homeless person who is yelling about biblical verses on the corner of Venice Boulevard. Substance Abuse disorder is just now starting to become recognized as a medical condition and not just as bad decision making that anyone can stop at will. Looking around at a 12-step meeting, you see the faces of people who are desperate to get help to stop making the very decisions that threaten their lives and their freedom. This law allows the judge, in any criminal case they find themselves fighting, to allow an alternative sentence of treatment for the defendant's substance abuse disorder and other underlying mental health conditions that led to their drug use and subsequent criminal activity. A simple Google search will reveal that many people aren't happy about this change, which they claim will allow people to escape harsher punishment for their crimes, however in terms of efficacy at reducing subsequent criminal behavior based on drug use, rehab has been consistently more effective than incarceration. (for a deeper legal analysis of this law and the social ramifications about it, see my next blog post).

For those faced with a drug charge, the prospects can seem bleak. If you're lucky maybe you have a good alternative sentencing advocate to help you get into a rehab program that can actually help you address the root cause of the misstep. For most though, you're lucky to get a state drug program like prop 36, where you'll be subjected to months or even years of constant drug testing with urinalysis tests that often show false positives, mandatory drug classes that interfere with jobs or family obligations, and of course plenty of fines and fees to probation and the state. Some graduate and are lucky enough to get the convictions in their case set aside through differed entry of judgement programs (which vary by county); many aren't that lucky and find their probation violated and themselves sent to jail or prison with all the others who never even had that much luck with their case in the first place. 

If you have a non-drug crime that was still a result of drug use (like leaving a drunken, threatening voicemail), you oftentimes find yourself completely out of luck as only direct drug crimes qualify for many of these diversion programs. In cases like these the only "rehabilitation" the courts throw your way is a jail cell followed by a criminal record that makes it harder, not easier, to get your life back on track.

So if you were unlucky enough to be the one arrested after a mutual fight at the bar;

you were the one unlucky enough to be stopped only a block from your driveway and given a breathalizer test on a Saturday night;

you were the one who partied for too many nights in a row and then unluckily found yourself waking up in a cold cell wondering what happened... 

...It's time your luck turned around

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