Marchman Act

The Marchman Act is the means of providing a person in need of substance abuse services with emergency assistance and temporary detention. This is usually for substance abuse evaluation and proper treatment when required. This could be voluntary or involuntary as the case may be. The Marchman Act mainly applies to the State of Florida in the US.

A Marchman Act is said to be voluntary when a person wishes by himself or herself to enter treatment for substance abuse by applying to a service provider for admission. The person does that completely by himself or herself knowing full well the implication of his or her actions.

On the other hand, the Marchman Act could also be in the involuntary admission system. Such an involuntary admission is done by another person on behalf of the individual involved. This is only done when it is very clear the individual involved is virtually impaired to take voluntary decisions. He or she may be mentally ill or somehow insane and hence cannot in any way take the right decisions. In such cases, a law enforcement agent or some other person could take the decision on behalf of the individual involved.

However, there are proper criteria for both voluntary and involuntary system of seeking admission under the Marchman Act. For instance, a minor or underage person may seek voluntary admission for substance abuse services without his or her parent’s or guardian’s consent. Once the young person is capable of writing and making honest statements, a law enforcement officer may take him or her into consideration. Attention is therefore given to such a person.

On the other hand, the case is quite difference in the case of involuntary admission. In such cases, a private practitioner, a person’s spouse or relative or any other close person that has a proper personal knowledge of the individual’s impairment could stand in for him or her in filing an Involuntary Marchman Act Petition.

Filing an Involuntary Marchman Act Petition is done by contacting a service provider and confirming that you know much about the individual involved. You also need to have a valid identification material for proper filing such as social security number, date of birth and address or location where the individual can be located by the sheriff’s office.

After filing a Marchman Act Petition, the court reviews the petition and the other details. If the person is being represented by a lawyer, the courts will conduct the hearing within the space of 10 days.

Usually a person may be detained for involuntary assessment for the period of 5 days.

In all, the above issue on Marchman Act refers to the procedure in the Florida State of the US.