MBA Drug Lab Crisis Resource Center

The Massachusetts Bar Association has been actively working and meeting with state officials from the Gov. Deval L. Patrick Administration, Attorney General's Office, courts and the Committee for Public Counsel Services to address the ongoing issues surrounding the Department of Public Health Drug Lab scandal.

Providing access for defense counsel, who are representing clients in thousands of cases affected, has been the main priority of the MBA. View DPH Crime Lab resources below.

DPH Crime Lab Information

Statutes

• Chapter 94C Controlled Substances Act

CPCS Communications

• Important info re: appeals from Rule 30 decisions
• DPH/Drug Lab Discover from Nov. 13, 2012 with additional redactions
• Video testimony on post audit and oversight hearing re DPH Drug Lab
• Letter from the Committee to Public Counsel Services to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early
• Sept. 14 DPH Drug Lab Information Update
• Discovery requests based on AGO investigation documents
• No drug certs at the DPH lab
• Non-citizen advocacy points
• AGO State Lab Investigation Discovery Bullet Points
• AGO State Lab Investigation Discovery Annotated Bullet Points

Trial Court Orders and Communications

• William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute Standing Order
• Special session JP lab courts and judicial assignments
• Drug lab courts
• Superior Court fax numbers

Defense Attorney Resources

• MBA "Training Related to Dookhan and Other DPH Cases" seminar materials
• Office of the Attorney General Investigative Reports
• Memo to the MBA from the commonwealth's Executive Office of Public Safety and Security
  
• Defense counsel form to access a state-created database of information to identify individuals whose cases potentially may have been impacted

Latest News

• April 26, 2013: Annie Dookhan lawyer: Plea deal possible, Boston Herald
• April 2, 2013: More signs of disarray in closed state drug lab, Boston Globe
• March 13, 2013 Single justice to hear challenge in drug lab cases, Boston Herald
• March 10, 2013 After Dookhan, backlog burdens Sudbury drug lab, MetroWest Daily News
• Jan. 25, 2013: District Attorneys Struggle To Deal With Cases In Drug Lab Scandal, WBUR
• Jan. 23, 2013: State chemist allegedly used crime drugs, Boston Globe
• Jan. 9, 2013: Ex-Mass. chemist to be arraigned in drug lab case, Boston Globe
• Jan. 8, 2013: Dookhan arraignment continues on Wednesday, Mass. Lawyers Weekly (blog)
• Dec. 20: Annie Dookhan pleads not guilty and gets 10 p.m. curfew after lawyer says social life impacted by case, Boston Globe
• Dec. 20: Lawyer says censure didn't stop chemist, Boston Herald
• Dec. 17: Grand jury indicts Annie Dookhan, figure at center of state drug lab crisis, on 27 counts, Boston Globe
• Dec. 4: Lab woes call for break from drug war script, Boston Herald
• Nov. 29: State House Republicans call for ouster of Patrick's HHS chief in wake of state drug lab crisis, Boston Globe
• Nov. 28: Deval OKs intensive look at Dookhan files, Boston Herald
• Nov. 28: Public hearing to review Massachusetts testing lab scandal, Springfield Republican
• Nov. 28: Defending the thousands affected by drug lab scandal could take $332m, state agency says, Boston Globe
• Nov. 19: Retired judges to serve as special magistrates in Dookhan scandal, Mass. Lawyers Weekly (subscription required)
• Nov. 5: Mass. Inspector General Asked To Head Probe Of Drug Lab , WBUR
• Nov. 5: Governor Deval Patrick taps Inspector General Glenn Cunha to investigate closed drug lab, Boston Globe
• Nov. 5: Cunha tapped to take over drug lab review, Mass. Lawyers Weekly
• Nov. 5: Mass IG asked to head independent probe of lab, Telegram & Gazette
• Oct. 31: AG Martha Coakley calls for independent probe of state drug lab policies and procedures, Boston Globe
• Oct. 31: AG: Independent investigator should probe drug lab scandal, Boston Herald
• Oct. 26: Failures at state drug lab warrant independent probe, Boston Globe
• Oct. 25: Coakley urged to pick independent investigator in lab scandal, Boston Globe
• Oct. 25: Lawyers ask AG to quit drug lab probe, Boston Herald
• Oct. 24: LEGAL GROUPS WANT INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR TO EXAMINE DRUG LAB, State House News Service
• Oct. 24: Lawyers Call For Outside Probe Of Drug Lab, WBUR radio
• Oct. 24: Massachusetts lawyers call for outside probe of drug lab, WCVB TV Channel 5
• Oct. 24: Bar leaders renew call for outside investigator to oversee drug lab scandal, Mass. Lawyers Weekly
• Oct. 24: The Massachusetts Bar Association, Committee for Public Counsel Services, ACLU of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers are calling for an independent investigation of the DPH Drug Lab
• Oct. 24: Amid lab scandal, suspect in Fitchburg drug bust set free this morning, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
• Oct. 22: More drug cases stayed in wake of lab scandal, Boston Globe
• Oct. 22: Accused killer, cat torturer next up in drug lab fiasco, Boston Herald
• Oct. 17: Norfolk prosecutor with ties to Dookhan resigns, Boston Globe
• Oct. 16: Chemist often called, wrote to prosecutor, Boston Globe
• Oct. 12: Nearly 500 more cases ID'd in drug lab scandal, Boston Globe
  
• Oct. 12: Boston girds for prisoners freed in drug lab scandal, Boston Globe
• Oct. 10: Chemist pleads Fifth in drug case, Boston Globe
• Oct. 5: Prosecutors to seek $10m a year to resolve drug cases, Boston Globe
• Oct. 4: Police brace for release of violent convicts in drug cases, Boston Globe
• Oct. 4: Man freed in drug case a fugitive, Boston Globe
• Oct. 4: Roxbury mother freed amid state drug lab scandal, Boston Globe
• Oct. 3: Drug lab scandal hits western Mass., Boston Herald
• Oct. 2: After drug lab scandal, three Worcester County judges will review cases, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
• Sept. 28: Drug lab scandal entangles Worcester County, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
  
• Sept 28: Special court session to deal with influx of Annie Dookhan cases in Suffolk County, Boston Globe
• Sept. 27: State Lab Chemist Told Police She Intentionally Falsified Test Results, WBUR radio
  
• Sept 27: Appointment of special prosecutor being considered for drug lab matter, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
• Sept: 27: Timeline of events in disgraced Mass. chemist case, Boston Globe
• Sept. 26: Drug lab chemist accused of lying, Boston Globe
• Sept. 24: Review finds 1,140 people may be in state prison or jail because of tainted drug evidence, Boston Globe
• Sept. 20: Former prosecutor David Meier to lead review in drug lab scandal; two men released from prison as fallout continues, Boston Globe
• Sept. 19: Convicted drug dealer to be released, as state drug lab scandal fallout continues, Boston Globe
• Sept. 19: Drug lab crisis may follow Patrick, Boston Globe
• Sept. 18: State establishes database for drug-lab cases; applications available, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
• Sept. 14 Come clean on crime lab, Boston Herald
• Sept. 14: Black mark on the state drug lab, Boston Globe
• Sept. 13: State chemist accused of mixing drug samples, Boston Globe
• Sept. 6: Mass. district attorneys fret at lapses found at drug lab, Boston Globe
• Sept. 5: Lawyers told to seek dismissals amid crime lab probe, Boston Herald
• Aug. 30: Problems uncovered at state drug lab in Jamaica Plain; State Police plan news conference, Boston Globe