- AR 600-85Publication
The Army Substance Abuse Program
AR 600-85 establishes the Army Substance Abuse Program: prevention, drug testing, self-referral, and command referral. It is the regulation behind unit urinalysis and the limited use policy. Leaders need to know the difference between a self-referral and a command referral before a Soldier asks.
- Board question
What are the ways a Soldier can enter the Army Substance Abuse Program?
Self-referral, command referral, medical referral, and identification through drug testing or an investigation. Self-referral is the route the Army pushes hardest, because a Soldier who asks for help before there is an incident gets certain protections that a Soldier identified after the fact does not.
- Board question
What is the limited use policy?
It restricts how the Army may use certain protected information a Soldier provides in connection with substance abuse treatment, such as a voluntary self-referral or information developed during treatment. That information generally may not be used against the Soldier in a court-martial or as the basis for a characterization of discharge. It does not protect a Soldier from the consequences of independently discovered misconduct.