Another Court Rules that AA/NA are Religious

A recent court case ruled that a parolee can sue a parole officer for damages if the parole officer requires the parolee to attend 12-step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous when this violates the parolee's religious or non-religious beliefs.

The case is titled Inouye v. Kemna, issued Sept. 7, 2007. The full text of the opinion is here. The court that issued the decision is the Ninth Circuit of the United States Courts of Appeal. The court's ruling is the law in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Ricky Inouye was imprisoned in Hawaii after conviction on drug charges, and served his time. As a Buddhist, he objected to participating in 12-step treatment programs because of their religious nature. After his release, he sued his parole officer, Nanamori, for giving him the "choice" of AA/NA meetings or prison.

When that case came to trial in the federal court in Hawaii, Nanamori argued that he, a parole officer, could not have known whether AA/NA are "religious" because the law on that issue was foggy at the time he ordered Inouye to participate (2001). If the issue was unclear, Nanamori was immune from suit. Nanamori won on that issue in the lower federal court in Hawaii. Inouye (or rather his son Zenn, Ricky having meanwhile died) appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

The Ninth Circuit's opinion makes short work of the claim that the law was fuzzy on the religious nature of AA/NA. The court points to virtually identical cases decided before 2001 by the federal courts of appeal for the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin) and the Second Circuit (New York, Connecticut, Vermont), in addition to a string of similar cases in lower federal courts and in state courts, all with the same result. The "unanimous conclusion" of these courts was that coercing a person into AA/NA or into AA/NA based treatment programs was unconstitutional because of their religious nature. Because the law on this issue was "uncommonly well settled," Nanamori cannot claim immunity.

Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit sent the case back to the lower federal court in Hawaii to decide how much, if anything, Nanamori has to pay Inouye's estate in monetary damages.

The court's ruling means that criminal justice officers -- or, arguably, any agents of the state, local, or federal government within the bounds of the Ninth Circuit -- can be sued for damages if they ignore a client's religious or anti-religious objections and coerce the person to attend 12-step meetings or 12-step based treatment programs.

What should prisoners, parolees, and criminal justice officers do in response to this ruling?

(1) Prisoners and parolees who have problems with the religious content of 12-step programs should stand up for their beliefs and make their objections heard, loud, clear, early, and on paper. In this case, Ricky Inouye won in part because he wrote letters and filed suit promptly after he was coerced into 12-step programs. He held to his position consistently, and enlisted legal help as soon as possible. Prisoners and parolees need to make it clear both in words and deeds that they earnestly want to remain clean and sober, that they are willing to participate in alcohol and other drug treatment programs and to attend support groups, but that the religious content in the 12-step programs violates their constitutionally protected beliefs and interferes with their recovery. Prisoners and parolees can match these words with actions by demanding referral to non-religious (secular) treatment options, if they exist, and by taking the initiative to organize secular support groups, such as LifeRing, on their own.

(2) Officials in the criminal justice system (and other government officials with coercive powers over addiction offenders) need to offer their clients a choice between religious and secular treatment programs and support groups. The "choice" between AA/NA or prison offends the constitution, and officers who insist on it need to check their professional liability insurance. Government officials can help themselves as well as their clients by sending the message to treatment programs that the programs must embody a secular track along with the 12-step track, or risk losing referrals. Officials need to inform themselves and their clients about the availability of secular support group alternatives, such as LifeRing. Where clients take the initiative to organize such support groups, officials need to be cooperative and provide a level playing field when it comes to rooms, publicity, literature, referrals, and other resources. In an appropriate case, officials may take the lead in initiating secular support groups themselves.

The Ninth Circuit decision ruffles some feathers because it contradicts the belief of many AA/NA members that the 12-step approach is "spiritual not religious." Of course, these words can have many meanings. But as far as the First Amendment of the US Constitution is concerned, the 12-step approach is clearly religious, and the Ninth Circuit only joins a "march of unanimity" of other courts who have come to the same conclusion.

The basic thrust of this line of cases is that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of and from religion extends over the whole of the United States, including the ever-expanding areas enclosed by prison walls. Since such a large proportion of prisoners are there because of drug and/or alcohol abuse, this recent ruling serves as an important refresher. Jails and prisons, notoriously in California, are overcrowded and in deplorable condition. The Ninth Circuit's decision says that the freedom of religious belief or disbelief must not go down the drain along with so many other elements of civilized penal treatment.

Scalia daughter arrested on DUI charge

WHEATON, Illinois (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's daughter was arrested this week and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and child endangerment, officials said Wednesday.

Ann S. Banaszewski (mug shot photo) 45, of Wheaton, was arrested Monday evening while driving away from a fast-food restaurant in the suburb 20 miles west of Chicago, police said.

Three children were inside Banaszewski's van when someone called police to report a suspected intoxicated driver, said Deputy Chief Tom Meloni. More.

Scalia, who has nine children, is a leader of the neoconservative wing on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Obama trying to quit smoking

WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama is trying to snuff out a habit before it hurts his run for president: He's trying to quit smoking.

The Illinois Democrat, who will formally launch his campaign Saturday, said his wife, Michelle (photo), persuaded him to quit.

"My wife wisely indicated that this is a potentially stressful situation, running for president," he said Tuesday. "She wanted to lay down a very clear marker that she wants me healthy."

The stakes are high for Obama not just because of the health hazards but because voters might be wary of a presidential candidate hooked on cigarettes. More.

In the heartland: Not enough heroin detox beds

Peoria, IL: About three years ago, White Oaks treatment center staff began noticing a new population of young people coming in for heroin detox.

It is a predominantly white, middle-class group between the ages of 18 and 25, though there have been clients younger than that. They come from Peoria and also from smaller towns and more rural areas.

Unfortunately, there just aren't enough beds to accommodate the recent surge in heroin use. Entry to the detox unit is generally on a first-come, first-served basis with some restrictions.

Last year at White Oaks, 269 patients - 14 percent of all those admitted - listed heroin as their primary or secondary addiction. Just as many, if not more, were turned away because there just wasn't the room.

There were times when six or seven of the 12 beds were filled with heroin users, and staff had to turn away those with other addictions like alcoholism that also carry serious, and possibly deadly, health issues.

For that reason, the center now tries to limit it to just two or three heroin users admitted at a time.

"Honestly, I feel that if we had 50 beds, we could fill them," said nurse Carol Leckrone, manager of the detox unit. "We have this great need, but this facility is only so big, and we're turning them away." Read full story from the Greater Paramus News.

Heroin No. 2 threat in Chicago suburbs

Lombard police Deputy Chief Dane Cuny said the increase in heroin use in the last five years in the suburbs has been significant.

"Next to alcohol and driving, drugs are the single-most threat to our youth-particularly heroin," Cuny said, adding that heroin is very accessible in open-air markets in Chicago.

"You don't have to look any further than the drug-related deaths," the deputy chief explained. "Because of the nature of heroin, it claims quite a few lives in DuPage County." Source.

Obama: You can recover from the stupid things you did as a teen

Senator Barack Obama's (D-IL) 12-year old revelations that he used marijuana and cocaine as a student are in the headlines this week, thanks to a Washington Post story speculating whether the admissions will hurt his not-yet-announced presidential campaign. Source. No previous presidential candidate has admitted to ever using cocaine. President Clinton said he smoked marijuana "but didn't inhale." Pres. Bush has admitted to past abuse of alcohol.

Says the Post:

Obama has not expressed any regrets for his candor. In a preface to the new edition, he says that he would tell the same story today "even if certain passages have proven to be inconvenient politically."

In the book, Obama acknowledges that he used cocaine as a high school student but rejected heroin. "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though," he says.

In an interview during his Senate race two years ago, Obama said he admitted using drugs because he thought it was important for "young people who are already in circumstances that are far more difficult than mine to know that you can make mistakes and still recover.

"I think that, at this stage, my life is an open book, literally and figuratively," he said. "Voters can make a judgment as to whether dumb things that I did when I was a teenager are relevant to the work that I've done since that time."

Possibly much more relevant to Obama's campaign than these old revelations of youthful drug use is the senator's current support for the Byrne program on methamphetamine. Read Maya Szalavitz as she rips him a new one over that issue.

Brief interventions effective for alcohol abusers

Doctors and nurses should screen and counsel patients for alcohol abuse during routine visits, a doctor-led advocacy group recommended in a recent report.

Dr. Thomas Esposito, co-chairperson of End Needless Deaths on Our Roadways (END), [web site] said studies have determined that 5- to 15-minute counseling sessions have proven effective in decreasing consumption among at-risk drinkers.

The recommendation is part of an annual report ranking the deadliest states of the union in terms of drunk driving. Washington D.C. and Hawaii topped the list this year. Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, North Dakota, and Washington also made the list of the bloodiest states. Details.

Hospitals ban smoking on entire campus

CHARLOTTE, N.C.: The Carolinas Medical Center hospital has banned smoking on the entire campus. That means not in the parking garage and not on the sidewalks.

The ban also extends to campuses of all hospitals and doctors' offices owned by Carolinas HealthCare System. Details.

ROCKFORD, IL: Most hospitals in the Rockford area declared their entire campuses smoke-free this week. An editorial in the Register-Star celebrates:

"It has taken at least 70 years, but finally the hypocrisy has been exposed. Smoking and medicine don’t mix — never have, never will.

That’s why we’re inhaling deeply at the news that most health care facilities in the Rockford area went smoke-free this week."

Read the rest of this well-written editorial.

Smoking before or after sex can damage baby

Smoking cigarettes just before becoming pregnant and shortly thereafter may increase a woman's risk of having a baby with a congenital heart defect by 60 to 80 percent, according to a report presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Heart Association in McCormick Place.

And women who are exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace or at home may also increase their risk of bearing infants with such defects, said Dr. Sadia Malik, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the study's lead author. Source. Picture from Nicotine News blog.

Columnist: Can you fool counselors, AA?

Can drinkers fool their counselors and AA? Columnist Atwater (he doesn't use a first name) in the Chicago Northwest Herald raises this topic in response to a woman who wrote in complaining that her husband lied to his counselor about his drinking and kept drinking while attending AA meetings. Going to AA did nothing for her husband; it just made him more sneaky, she said.

Atwater responds that it takes more than going through the motions to achieve sobriety. "The truth is that some people do come to counseling and 'fool' the counselor and people do go to AA meetings and continue to drink or become sneaky about their drinking. I have been told that only about one in ten people who come to AA stay in the program for more than a year."

Readers' comments are divided between one poster who credits AA attendance with giving him a new life thanks to his "friendship with God," and another who says:

Sending someone to AA to get sober is a complete waste of time and of AA. The first suggestion made in its basic text is that if you feel you can control your drinking - try it again, try it repeatedly. About 1 in 20 who come to AA get and stay sober - the same percentage of remission as existed before AA was founded. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation and disinformation floating about.... but the idea of sending someone to AA to sober them up is dangerous. Convicted Drunk drivers use AA as a basis to be permitted to drive again."

Read the whole Atwater column and comments here.