Marchman Act
1993 Florida law
The Marchman Act, officially the "Hal S. Marchman Alcohol and Other Drug Services Act of 1993", is a Florida law that provides a means of involuntary and voluntary assessment and stabilization and treatment of a person allegedly abusing alcohol or drugs.
Prior to October 1, 1993, substance abuse was addressed by chapters 396 and 397. Chapter 396 was primarily concerned with alcoholism while chapter 397, was more concerned with drug dependency. As of October 1, 1993, the new chapter 397, called the Hal S. Marchman Alcohol and Other Drug Services Act, superseded chapters 396 and 397. Unlike the prior chapters the new chapter 397, dubbed the “Marchman Act”, does not distinguish between drug dependency and alcoholism using the term “substance abuse.”
Text of the act
INVOLUNTARY CATEGORIES AND CRITERIA
The involuntary assessment and treatment has two categories: court and non-court involved admissions. The criteria for involuntary admission is:
"There is good faith reason to believe the person is substance abuse impaired and, because of such impairment:
1. Has lost the power of self-control with respect to substance use; AND EITHER
2a. Has inflicted, or threatened or attempted to inflict, or unless admitted is likely to inflict, physical harm on himself or herself or another; OR
b. Is in need of substance abuse services and, by reason of substance abuse impairment, his or her judgment has been so impaired that the person is incapable of appreciating his or her need for such services and of making a rational decision in regard thereto; however, mere refusal to receive such services does not constitute evidence of lack of judgment with respect to his or her need for such services. "
It is under Title XXIX - PUBLIC HEALTH Chapter 397 -SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES of the Florida Statutes.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Marchman Act” as 1993 Florida law. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as 1993 Florida law. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q24883630. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1993.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Marchman Act” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.