In November 2006 the New York State legislature stated that ALL alcohol evaluations and screenings for DWI cases must be performed by OASAS certified evaluators˳ OASAS stands for Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services˳ You can Google OASAS to find a certified evaluator and/or treatment provider in your county˳ Their website is very informative, and fairly easy to navigate˳
Legally you must have a “screening” for alcohol abuse/dependency within 30 days of your initial appearance if you had a BAC (blood alcohol concentration) of˳12 or higher on your chemical breath test˳ A screening is merely a written test, it could even be a true/false test˳
The next step up in the process so to speak is an “evaluation” for alcohol abuse/dependency within 30 days of the initial appearance if you had a BAC (blood alcohol concentration) of˳15 or higher on your chemical breath test˳ Some evaluators take one long session to perform an evaluation, while some could take up to four sessions to make an evaluation˳ Cost of these sessions runs about $80 to $90 per session˳ So one long eval might cost around $175 or four might cost up to $400˳ An evaluation is an “interview” with a counselor, and could (may or may not depending upon the evaluator) include a urine screen (NOTE: urine tests check for specific drugs while urine screens are general) for drugs˳ It is also common for the counselor to obtain “collaterals” from you˳ A collateral is contact information about people who know you and have seen your drinking˳ These people may or may not be contacted to confirm what you tell the evaluator˳ The theory is that people with drug/alcohol problems lie, and therefore these collateral sources would be a potential barometer of your truthfulness and/or sobriety˳
The next step for the evaluator is to determine whether you are an alcohol/drug abuser and have an abuse diagnosis or you are chemical (alcohol/drug) dependent˳ This is a critical determination, and should never be taken lightly by anyone˳
My problem (I have a great many issues with the process) with these evaluations is that they can be highly subjective˳ The evaluators opinions carry a lot of weight for the Court as well as the prosecutor and under the circumstances of an interview or interviews they (the evaluators) may not get the full ie˳ complete picture˳ I had one client who went to an evaluation and the evaluator decided on a year’s worth of treatment for dependency because the client stated he drank more than 5 drinks at one time˳ BTW 5 drinks for a man or 4 drinks for a woman at one time is classified as a binge drinker˳ BINGE is BAD in the world of evals˳ Imagine if you will a year’s worth of 2 to 3 times a week standing up and saying, “hello, my name is Bob and I’m an alcoholic,” and you may begin to see the grim picture if you are truly a person without a problem˳ These sessions would be costly in terms of time and money but more than that unjust in my opinion˳ In the preceding example no one took into consideration Bob’s height, weight, tolerance, what was eaten, or even the time in which he consumed the five drinks˳
When I practiced as a Chiropractic Physician (before my legal career) I was trained in the use of a psychological manual called the DSM- III (this is now the updated DSM- IV)˳ DSM stands for The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders˳ Think of the DSM as “Abnormal Psychology for Health Care Providers” and you have a better picture˳ This manual allows doctors, psychologists, social workers, addition specialists and a host of other mental health care servers to quickly look up a set of symptoms, patterns, and other behaviors and make a “potential” diagnosis or diagnoses˳
As a doctor I needed to differentiate (and sometimes place a rule out diagnosis) between physical illness and psychological illness˳ Oftentimes patients would have a layer of psychological problems/issues aside from and in addition to their disc or nerve or muscle injury˳ Now the reason I bring up and explain all of this is because this manual is the “go to” guide for evaluators˳ As a DWI defense lawyer the manual has new significance for me and my clients˳
The manual describes alcohol abuse as ANY “harmful” use of alcohol˳ Harmful use of alcohol can be further described as any use that causes physical and/or mental damage˳ We all know that alcohol by it’s very nature causes brain cells to die (alcohol blocks oxygen from the brain) so an abuse diagnosis is a very common one˳
Legally, Alcohol abuse merely requires education˳ This can often be in the form of New York State’s DMV 7 week Drinking Driver Program (DDP)˳ The Court can force compliance with treatment, rehabilitation, and education related to any plea and/or conviction˳ In some New York counties this must come before a final case resolution, but in the majority of others it comes as a condition of discharge with the Court (after the final disposition)˳
The question on everyone’s mind is so where is the line between alcohol/drug “abuse” and alcohol/drug “dependence”?
Well generally the following are some of the behaviors that those dependent on alcohol may display:
1˳ Drinking only one type of alcoholic beverage or preferring one brand˳
2˳ Only going to events, get togethers, and parties that serve alcohol˳
3˳ Being able to drink more and more over time by increasing their tolerance to alcohol˳
So far these first three sound like my college days or the behavior patterns of many of us, but please read on,
4˳ Making a decision to quit drinking and then feeling compelled to drink˳
5˳ Drinking to help a hangover (after a night of intense drinking)˳
6˳ A compulsion to drink (feeling you have to drink)˳
7˳ Getting shaky and feeling ill if you do not drink (alcohol withdrawl symptoms)˳
If you become DEPENDENT on alcohol then you should seek help˳ These last 4 critieria indicate people that have a problem with alcohol˳
If we look at what the DSM-IV states we find the following:
If you have (display) 3 of the following 7 symptoms (over the course of a year) you are classified as alcohol dependent˳ By the way, Alcohol “dependent” is a nice way of saying you have “alcoholism˳”
-You Neglect activities (giving up on your job, social, and joyful pursuits) because of alcohol,
-You drink Excessively (large quantities over long time periods) beginning drinking early to late,
-You Can not Control your drinking or cut back on drinking,
-You Keep drinking even though it is affecting you mentally, physically, and socially,
-You spend a large majority of time in activities that involve drinking alcohol,
-You get nausea, shakiness, anxiety, and sweating if you do not drink,
-You can really put it away (you have a very high tolerance)˳
My own personal opinion from helping thousands of people as both a Chiropractor, and as an attorney is those people with drug/alcohol problems usually know it˳ If they do not deal with it early and own up to it they will eventually be forced by the Court/Legal System to confront their issue with more pain and cost to them and their families in the long run˳
To me there is nothing sadder than watching someone throw away their life, and their potential as human beings away due to misuse of drugs or alcohol˳
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