so i just happened to come across this apparently just a couple days ago the u.s department of justice disability rights section of the civil rights division of the department of justice just sent a letter to the pennsylvania state court system advising them that following their investigation several of their county court systems were found to have violated federal disability discrimination laws again i just happened to cross this hadn't seen it in the news anywhere but this seems important i know from personal experience that this has happened in west virginia it's probably been happening across the entire country so the the justice department found that the united united judicial system of pennsylvania through the actions of its courts violated the americans with disabilities act by prohibiting or limiting the use of disability related medication to treat opioid use disorder or oud by individuals under court supervision the justice department identified three specific individuals with opioid use disorder who had been discriminated against by the northumberland and jefferson county courts of common pleas two individuals allege that the jefferson county court ordered all probationers to stop using their prescription medication for oud a third individual alleged that the northumberland county court required her to stop using her prescription oud meds to graduate from drug court and that's something that i've seen as well is that people have been in the past ineligible for the same drug court program that other people have because they have one of these prescriptions the department's investigation corroborated these allegations and additionally found evidence that multiple other county courts in pennsylvania have treatment court policies that discriminate against individuals with oud according to the u.s department of health and human services substance abuse and mental health service administration or samsha oud medication gives people the time and ability to make necessary life changes associated with long-term remission and recovery minimizes cravings and withdrawal symptoms and lets people better manage other aspects of their life such as parenting attending school or working so if you're wondering exactly what these medications are the letter which i put up on the website at the civil rights lawyer dot com in full you can read it yourself it names these medications and explains exactly uh what they found and what they're saying is illegal here i'm quoting the letter methadone now trexone and bu buprenorphine i'm sure i butchered that including the brand name subutex and suboxone are medications approved by the food and drug administration to treat oud according to the u.s national institute on drug abuse or nida methadone and the other one i just couldn't pronounce and butchered helped diminish the effects of physical dependency on opioids such as withdrawal symptoms and cravings by activating the same opioid receptors in the brain targeted by prescription or illicit opioids without producing euphoria so i have to wonder what this really means what are the consequences of this going to be is the department of justice going to expand their investigation to other states because i can almost guarantee this is going on all over the place including in west virginia and if oud if people have the the right to you know under federal law to have their suboxone medications i mean the the implications of that could be far-reaching and what el what else can that apply to perhaps it depends on what the department of justice is willing to latch onto but i know that there are a lot of people out there that this could be relevant information for them so i felt it was important to put up on the website at the civil rights lawyer dot com the if you read the letter in the end basically what their what these letters are is they make certain demands on the state on pennsylvania's court system in this case and it's basically a threat and they're demanding several things from the state court system and this is specifically what they demand that they number one adopt or revise written policies to explicitly state that no court within the ujs may discriminate against exclude from participation or deny the benefits of their services programs or activities including county court proceedings probationary programs and treatment courts to qualified individuals with disabilities because they have oud secondly identify an ada coordinator responsible for monitoring court programs training court staff in overseeing investigations and resolutions of ada complaints and grievances number three updating the the court systems complaint process as needed to ensure that ada related complaints filed against any court in the ujs are promptly reviewed investigated and addressed appropriately training and educating all court staff about oud and the non-discrimination requirements of title ii of the ada number five this is a good one paying compensatory damages to the complainants and other aggrieved individuals for injuries caused by the county court actions described in this letter now if you read the letter they describe one particular judge whom they name on such and such date issued an order stating that basically anyone who's before him in any sort of probation parole drug court whatever has to be completely clean the usdoj sends him a letter same day the judge vacates the order just throwing this out there are they saying that the that the the judge will be liable for everyone who is discriminated against pursuant to that order or who's liable the the court system itself i they're interesting um immunity issues posed in there you know we'll see how any of this plays out but these are interesting issues which i haven't seen these out there lastly number six providing the united states with written status reports delineating all steps taken to comply with these requirements including the dates on which each step was taken and where applicable information sufficient to demonstrate compliance so also if you look in the letter they do note i believe somewhere that complainants specifically where is it they can reach out to the department of justice and if you read the letter you actually see the the specific lawyers that are working on this case but there is a toll-free ada number that goes to this division and if it's like anything like when i work the department of justice every day somebody's on call to answer these these calls and sometimes you very well may get some some wacky calls but also some good ones so if this is relevant to you just know that this is out there that this is a thing and that there are people at the doj there that are investigating this right now and even holding court systems accountable so we're let's see where this goes from there again read the letter at the civil rights lawyer dot com [Music]