The ubiquitous 12-step model requires agreement with the concept that, if you are addicted, you have an incurable, progressive disease, you are an addict for life and must abstain for life, and your only chance for sobriety is to make confessions, give up your own will to a high power, and pray.

In its ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said, "While we in no way denigrate the fine work of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, attendance in their programs may not be coerced by the state."

The case began back in 2000, when Ricky Inouye of Hawaii, an amphetamine addict in jail for drug related charges, was released on parole and was ordered by his parole officer to attend Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA) meetings as a condition of his parole. Inouye, a practicing Buddhist, said he could not agree to AA/NA drug rehab because they demand a form of religious observance with which he cannot agree.

A year before his parole, Inouye had filed a letter with the court and prison authorities stating he was willing to attend other types of drug rehab but could not accept a 12-step program. After his parole, Inouye refused to attend the programs, and was soon arrested and sent back to jail, in part as a parole violation for refusing to attend the AA/NA drug rehab programs. Inouye sued the parole officer for violating his First Amendment rights.

Inouye passed away before the case could be settled in Hawaii courts, but it was carried forward by his son as the personal representative of Inouye's estate. The Inouye family lost the case in the District Court of Hawaii, and appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court which reversed the decision and ordered the case against the parole officer to continue.

The Ninth Circuit Court's ruling is in agreement with many earlier federal and state court decisions, notably the Second and Seventh Circuit Courts, at least three district courts, and two state supreme courts – all ruling that forced or coerced (court-ordered) attendance at alcohol or drug rehab programs requiring reverence for "a higher power" is unconstitutional.

These decisions stretch back into the 1980s and 1990s. But penal officials, supported by justice officials and lower courts across the country, have continued to order prisoners and parolees by the thousands to attend AA/NA alcohol and drug rehab programs, accompanied with threats of legal recourse if they fail to attend. Not only do such orders fly in the face of existing constitutional law, they fail to take into account decades of scientific advances in the fields of alcohol and drug rehab.

It's been more than 50 years since the American Medical Association endorsed the 12-step model. Since then, a lot of science has pretty much debunked both the disease theory and the alleged superiority of 12-step treatments. But the powers of the religious right, in concert with political and industrial influences, have managed to keep 12-step alcohol and drug rehab programs in the forefront of treatment.

Here's a couple of reasons why this might be:

First, it's cheaper (or more profitable, depending where you are on the management tree) to employ "therapists" and "counselors" who themselves are recovering alcohol and drug abusers with one-dimensional training.

Secondly, by promoting the concept that alcoholics and many kinds of prescription drug addicts are people with "addiction diseases" or people who are genetically predisposed to addiction, or both – no one can say for sure since no science exists to support either claim – it allows the brewing, distilling and pharmaceutical industries to blame addicts for the destruction caused to families and individuals and society at large.

We can't really fault the 12-step programs or its counselors, or the addictive substance manufacturers. Seeing is believing, and all they've ever seen, for decades, are the old 12-step alcohol and drug rehab programs. It's time for change, and perhaps this recent ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will more firmly establish at least in the minds of our penal officials that there are other modes of treatment. I know this may sound like heresy, but it is possible to find an alcohol and successful drug rehab program that offers greater hope for permanent sobriety than the old 12-step approach, and without having to yield to any higher power than oneself.