Proposed Uniform Drug Dependence Treatment and Rehabilitation Act and Commentary
In 1969, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws started developing a uniform statutory response to drug control to replace the antiquated Uniform Narcotic Drug Act, which had been adopted by the Conference in 1932. The events of the 1960's confirmed the need for new approaches in three general areas: the regulation of legitimate distribution or potent psychoactive drug; the penal sanctions to be applied to possession of these substances outside the legitimate medical system; and the role of the legal system in the treatment of persons for use of or dependence on these drugs.
The Committee designated by the Conference to draft the necessary legislation chose to concentrate initially on the regulatory and penal aspects, deferring the treatment considerations to a later time. This decision paralleled a similar bifurcated approach then being pursued in the Congress. As a result, the Uniform Controlled Substances Act was approved and recommended for enactment io all the states in August 1970, and the Conference subsequently appointed a Special Committee to draft a companion Uniform Act, dealing with the area or treatment and rehabilitation.
The Uniform Drug Dependence Treatment and Rehabilitation Act was unanimously approved by the special Committee io March 1973 for submission to the Plenary Conference. At the time this Appendix went to press, the Conference was scheduled to take final action on the proposed Act at its annual meeting io August 1973. However, because the Commission endorsed the Act, as approved by the Special Committee, in its final Report (pages 339-342), the entire text of the Committee-approved draft has been included here in anticipation of Conference approval. In addition, the authors, who were reporters to the Special Committee, have provided a section-by-section analysis of each provision of the Act.