Don’t Baker Act your loved one just because they have a substance use disorder (alcohol, marijuana, pills, etc)

Hello everyone, its Mark. And welcome back. In this video, I want to talk to you about Baker Act in your loved one who is suffering from a substance use disorder. Now, it could be alcohol, it could be pills, it could be marijuana or one of the other altitude of street drugs. Should you baker at them? And I get that question a lot. I get a lot of mums and dads who call me and say they’ve been told by counselors, by friends, by family that they should bakeract their loved one. And it just absolutely breaks my heart, okay?

So I’m going to share with you what I share with all the families that call me about bakers and their loved ones who have these issues and tell you, please don’t do it, okay? Because if you do, you’re going to call me crying because one of two things are going to happen. Either your loved one is going to be released within 72 hours, which not only does not help them, it’s probably going to make them worse, or the state is going to keep them, which means you may or may not get them back at some time in the future, okay?

So please stop baker acting your loved ones who have substance use disorders, okay? I’m happy that you call me first before you go and do it, before you go and rush down to the courthouse and file this petition to these individuals who are telling people moms and dads to go and baker act their loved ones, please stop doing it.

Okay?

The Baker Act is a statute that allows the state of Florida to take custody of your loved one when they are suffering from some form of mental illness that results in them presenting as an immediate danger to themselves or somebody else, okay? And it specifically excludes somebody with a substance use disorder. So if your loved one has issues with alcohol or pills or marijuana or street dogs, they’re not even included within the definition of mental illness that as defined in the Bakery Act statute. So they don’t even qualify for a Bakery Act. Now, obviously, if they are immediately threatening to hang themselves or shoot themselves or harm somebody else, you should call 911. And could they be bankrupted? Yes, they could be, because at that point, they present as an immediate danger to somebody else or themselves. And arguably, there may be a mental illness component going on here, but that is what the Bank Act is for. It’s not to get your loved one treated. It’s not even a treatment statute.

Okay?

Now, are there other things you can do for them? Yes, you can file Marchman acts. You can file a guardianship. And you know, I’m a big proponent of the Guardianship, and while I like the Marchman Act, I frankly think it’s a little outdated and it’s not nearly powerful enough. But please don’t think about baker at your loved one. I promise you it is not the answer and it’s not what it was intended for. And unfortunately, because the Baker Act is so abused, if you go and file a Baker Act petition and a judge grants it and the police come and take your loved one, you’re going to find that they don’t get the help they need.

Okay?

So with that said, if anybody has questions about what they can do to help their loved ones who have a substance use disorder, I have a ton of video content on both the bakery attorney’s website and the drug and alcohol attorney’s website. There are ebooks on both websites and you can download them for free. You don’t have to pay me a nickel for any of this information. I give it all away for free. If you want to consider some legal intervention, in other words, because your loved one is not willing to seek help, and typically when somebody has a substance use disorder or even mental illness, and the two tend to go together, they don’t even realize they have a problem. And so making that decision for them is key, but don’t allow the state to make the decision for them under the baycraft. In that case, we can help you. There’s options that we have. So with that said, feel free to give us a call, email me, call us, send a message to the website and reach out to us for help. So anyway, with that said, thanks for tuning in. See you in the next video.

Bye.