[simplewilson]

Hello. I am 35, male, about 165 lbs. 5'-9". I drink beer daily the past 6 months. Last drinks I had were TUESDAY nearing 1am. That night I had 2 pints of beer, and took 2 larger shots of jameson whiskey. Today is Friday, and I am supposed to take an ETG today, around 2PM.
Can anyone suggest whether-or-not I may pass? Long story, but my parenting time hangs in the balance.

[JudyKayTee]

I say, based on research and experience, that you are going to fail. The Court is going to say that if you wanted your children back, were directed not to drink in order to get them back, drank anyway, you should lose your parenting rights.

I certainly believe addiction is a disease. I also don't think children should be exposed to it.

You have made your choice, as painful as that may be -

[N0help4u]

I feel for you, but personally I would want the sure way and not take the gamble in the first place.

[odinn7]

It's possible that you could pass... I have heard of stranger things happening and there is a chance it could go your way anyway. Learn from this.

[simplewilson]

It's possible that you could pass...I have heard of stranger things happening and there is a chance it could go your way anyway. Learn from this.

I indeed took a gamble. I was supposed to have random testing applied to this case beginning 4 months ago, and was not called once. Although I mentioned above I drink beer daily past 6 months, I ceased drinking immediately following the court date for about a month. It became apparent that I was not going to be called. The follow-up court date comes mid-July, and I was in fact going to cease drinking the day after my last drink! Certainly some will roll their eyes.
I am very familiar with alcoholism. I am not alcoholic. I drink. I do not drink to get drunk. I quite rarely exceed into drunkenness. I am a human who enjoys alcohol's lubrication. I had a miserable divorce 7 years ago from a woman who has copious amounts of fear around alcohol stemming from her childhood and alcoholic mother.
I also thought prohibition ended in the 1930's.
Anyway, thank you all for your input.

[simplewilson]

... Also, I had never heard of this ETG test until the ad litem called me Wednesday and instructed me to take this test. If that at all helps explain why I was willing to drink.

[JudyKayTee]

"I had a miserable divorce 7 years ago from a woman who has copious amounts of fear around alcohol stemming from her childhood and alcoholic mother.
I also thought prohibition ended in the 1930's."

In reverse order, Prohibition ended in December 1933. I have no idea what that has to do with your ETG test. There is absolutely no law that states you cannot consume alcohol. Your situation is appears to be caused by a very specific decision by a very specific Court with a very specific set of circumstances.

Prohibition addressed the entire US. This Court Order addresses you.

I work in the legal system - are you saying you are ordered to take scheduled "random" tests and this test is a surprise "random" test? That appears to defeat the purpose of random testing.

Your ex-wife, 7 years ago, somehow convinced a Court, with absolutely no proof, that your child(ren) needed a GAL and you needed to be supervised for 7 years? Unheard of in my State, NY, but I don't know where you are. Seven years based on nothing?

Her hysterical reaction to nothing but childhood experiences has caused you to under scheduled random and surprise random alcohol and drug testing for 7 years?

Where is your attorney in all of this?

[odinn7]

...Also, I had never heard of this ETG test untill the ad litem called me Wednesday and instructed me to take this test. If that at all helps explain why I was willing to drink.

You're contradicting yourself... in your previous response, you say that you were told you would need to take this test and stopped drinking for a month until it was apparent you weren't going to be called in for it... now you say you had no idea until a few days ago.

Listen, we make mistakes... how you handle them says more about you than trying to explain why you made them.

[simplewilson]

When we divorced 7 years ago, (MN) our son was about 1 year old, she had a lawyer, and I could not afford one. She told the court that I was a drug addict due to my cannabis use and beer consumption, which was random and reasonably minimal. I was ordered to take a UA, which I failed, of course. The presiding judge ordered in our decree that my parenting time be contingent upon sobriety. So, I lived sober for several years, using AA. After 4 years hanging with AA, I concluded that I wasn't an alcoholic, and I will never consider cannabis use a "problem." I became very familiar with alcoholism, through the friends I had made in AA and the hundreds of stories I had heard. I never ever drank like any one of the people I had met in AA. I like to drink beer, but I do not care to be drunk, and have never had a problem stopping at the point before drunkenness. So, I quit AA and resumed drinking and cannabis use. At some point later last year, a friend of ex wife reported to her that I had been seen drinking, and ex wife promptly ceased to let me see our son. Nearly a year had passed and I had seen him but 4 times. I filed a parenting time case with the court as soon as I could afford a lawyer. A GAL was appointed. This was in March. I ceased using perhaps a month prior to court. I was told I would be ordered to random testing. I was
tested the day of court and passed. After a month I hadn't been called to test. I sent messages and left several voice messages with GAL to report that I wasn't being called in to test, and GAL didn't respond to any of these inquiries. This is where I took a leap and decided to drink beer again, with the intent to cease about 3 weeks before court. Happens that GAL wanted one more test and called me this Wednesday morning, though I happened to be out of town until this morning (Friday) and I had my last drink Tuesday night.
I have absolutely no criminal record, have always been a smart drinker, never driving after drinking, and thus have no DUI, etc.
I thoroughly understand the stupidity of even bothering to drink during this time. I get that. Stupid. I work as a dj every weekend in bars and clubs. Sometimes beer is nice during those nights. I wish I had a lawyer at divorce. I wish I had a better lawyer now. I wish I had had a different judge during divorce. The divorcing judge is no longer a judge, was forced from the bench for unscrupulous activity. She was indeed a poisonous person. If I put her name here, you could look her up yourself and be amazed. She once banned a young woman from stepping foot in Minneapolis as punishment for shoplifting! She had gone through a vile and documented divorce with her judge husband less than a year before my own. It was ugly.
Any way. Thank you all for your replies.

[simplewilson]

GAL did confirm that the court failed to issue the order for randoms, which explains why I WASN'T CALLED

[JudyKayTee]

I think this is sad from all sides - and mosty from your child's side.

But, that having been said, if you are using illegal drugs it doesn't matter what you think, what I think, what anyone here thinks. All that matters is what one presiding Judge thinks and, if the Police are called in, what they think.

It all boils down to no one here knows for sure how you will test. We can all have our opinions. With any luck you've learned a lesson, you'll stay clean, your rights won't be removed. Note the "you will have learned a lesson part."

It would appear whether the Judge is a witch on wheels, whether the system is unfair, whether the testing is unfair, whether someone held a gun to your head and made you drink, it's all about choices - your choices. That includes good, bad, indifferent choices.

I can only speak for myself. If I thought I would never see my (step) children and (step) grandchildren again or not see them for an extended period if I drank - I wouldn't drink.

If you are not an alcoholic but like the taste - drink non-alcoholic beverages (and that includes beer).

There is a shade of difference between being an alcoholic and drinking like an alcoholic. Lots of binge drinkers have come on AMHD and explained how they aren't alcoholics because they can go weeks without drinking before binging. It's all the same category.

Maybe you are. Maybe you aren't. Presumably, you know.

If you don't want to lose your child, stop drinking and using. Or move to a State where MJ is legal.