Skip to main content

Pen. Code, § 1000.6 · Chapter 2.5. Special Proceedings in Narcotics and Drug Abuse Cases

Pen. Code, § 1000.6

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) A person who is participating in a pretrial diversion program or a preguilty plea program pursuant to this chapter is authorized under the direction of a licensed health care practitioner, to use medications including, but not limited to, methadone, buprenorphine, or levoalphacetylmethadol (LAAM) to treat substance use disorders if the participant allows release of his or her medical records to the court presiding over the participant’s preguilty plea or pretrial diversion program for the limited purpose of determining whether or not the participant is using such medications under the direction of a licensed health care practitioner and is in compliance with the pretrial diversion or preguilty plea program rules.

(b) If the conditions specified in subdivision (a) are met, the use by a participant of medications to treat substance use disorders shall not be the sole reason for exclusion from a pretrial diversion or preguilty plea program. A patient who uses medications to treat substance use disorders and participates in a preguilty plea or pretrial diversion program shall comply with all court program rules.

(c) A person who is participating in a pretrial diversion program or preguilty plea program pursuant to this chapter who uses medications to treat substance use disorders shall present to the court a declaration from his or her health care practitioner, or his or her health care practitioner’s authorized representative, that the person is currently under their care.

(d) Urinalysis results that only establish that a person described in this section has ingested medication duly prescribed to that person by his or her physician or psychiatrist, or medications used to treat substance use disorders, shall not be considered a violation of the terms of the pretrial diversion or preguilty plea program under this chapter.

(e) Except as provided in subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive, this section does not affect any other law governing diversion programs.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 778, Sec. 7. (AB 208) Effective January 1, 2018.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=1000.6.
Text hash
sha256 c768805918bf9862012c144461ec0033c121105ac4aeaceb7f2d25702bdf9ff7
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.