[NYTr] Penalty for not attending addiction treatment program unconstitutional

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Not news, exactly, but a useful precis of the 9th circuit ruling. -
MYTr]

sent by  MichaelP - Dec 4, 2007
http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2007/court-rejects.html

Penalty for not attending addiction treatment program unconstitutional

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of a 
Buddhist drug offender who sued the state of Hawaii after he was
penalized for not attending an addiction treatment program based on the
principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Eugene Register-Guard reported
Nov. 25. <Inouye v. Kenma - Amended opinion issued Oct 3 2007>

Paroled offender Ricky Inouye was sent back to prison after dropping
out of the treatment program, but successfully sued the state, saying
his Constitutional rights were violated because the A.A. program was
religious in nature.

In Oregon, cardiologist Patrick Bergin has filed a similar lawsuit
against the state Board of Medical Examiners for forcing him to attend
an A.A.-based treatment program. Lower courts ruled against him, but
Bergin has appealed to the 9th Circuit, saying his First Amendment
rights have been violated.

Bergin alleges that the defendants in the case, including the Board,
the medical director of the Oregon Health Professionals Program, and a 
psychiatrist who evaluated Bergin's addiction problems, engaged in an 
"ongoing campaign of harassment intended to cause emotional and
financial hardship." Bergin is seeking $12 million in compensatory and
punitive damages.

"No one was trying to tell him what to believe," said Kathleen Haley, 
executive director of the Board of Medical Examiners. "We were trying
to find out if he was impaired and able to practice medicine safely."

In the Inouye case, the court ruled that the plaintiff had been coerced 
into a 12-step program because other options were not offered.

"In this case, it is essentially uncontested that requiring a parolee
to attend religion-based treatment programs violates the First
Amendment," the 9th Circuit ruled. "For the government to coerce
someone to participate in religious activities strikes at the core of
the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," namely, "Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting free exercise thereof.