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AA and support group requirements for Michigan drivers license restoration at the DLAD / DAAD

You don’t need to go to Alcoholics Anonymous if you’re not an alcoholic, right?

Under the statute and rules applicable to a Michigan driver's license restoration case, a person who has lost his or her license for repeated drunk driving convictions is an alcoholic.

That’s right: You are legally an alcoholic.

The presumption is that the alcoholic will remain an alcoholic for life, which is why the revocation is technically a life-time revocation. To overcome the presumption that the revoked motorist continues to consume alcohol, the person seeking to have their Michigan driver's licence restored must provide "clear and convincing evidence" to the contrary. Unlike criminal cases, where the accused is presumed innocent and cannot be found guilty unless the prosecutor proves the case beyond a reasonable doubt, a petitioner in a Michigan driver's license restoration hearing is statutory defined as an alcoholic and presumed to be drinking or presumed to be ready to relapse. Because of this, the petitioner bears the burden of proving otherwise by a standard of proof that is only slightly less than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard of proof: Clear and convincing evidence.

But are you really an alcoholic?

Who knows? Alcoholics will occasionally lie to themselves, and they tend to underestimate and hide their drinking habits. How could a Hearing Officer make this determination in the course of a hearing? So the law makes it easy for the Hearing Officer by statutorily defining you as an alcoholic for purposes of the restoration process.

The better question is: Do you want to restore your driving privileges?

In order to win a Michigan drivers license restoration hearing, a revoked motorist must provide proof of support group attendance. The DLAD Hearing Officers want to see proof of weekly attendance and participation in an established, structured substance abuse support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Rational Recovery, or SOS (Secular Organizations for Sobriety, also known as Save Our Selves). As an alternative, a person may also provide proof of attending a recognized substance abuse treatment program or a counseling program.

Get a sponsor, a report, and an aftercare plan

If a person enrolls in a 12-Step program, that person should obtain a sponsor, and a report from the sponsor should be submitted. Likewise, any counseling or substance abuse treatment program should submit a report, including a progress report and an aftercare plan.

Passive participation is not enough

In order to prove your case, you must be able to show knowledge in the recovery principles that have been learned in connection with the support groups that you have attended. In other words, even though organizations like AA do not require active participation during meetings, you must participate and be active in the organization to prove that you have learned something from these organizations.