Pursuant to the powers vested in it by Section 36(a) of R.A. No. 6425, as amended the DDB hereby prescribes the following guidelines for the disposition of persons arrested/apprehended for violating the provisions of the said Act who are believed to be drug dependents and the administration of laboratory examinations/tests pursuant to Section 24-A of the same Act as amended by B.P. Blg. 179:

SECTION 1.       Any person arrested/apprehended for violations of any provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act, as amended, shall, if the arresting/apprehending officer has reasonable ground to believe that such person, on account of physical signs or symptoms or other visible or outward manifestations is under the influence of dangerous drugs, be brought immediately by said arresting officer to the nearest laboratory testing center for the administration of the laboratory examination/test.

SECTION 2.       The laboratory testing center shall forthwith administer the examinations/tests to ascertain the presence of dangerous drugs in the body fluids of the person arrested and to identify the quality and determine the quantity of dangerous drugs ingested.  The results of such laboratory examination/test duly certified by the examining officer shall immediately be forwarded to the arresting officer, copy thereof to be furnished the DDB.

SECTION 3.       After the examinations/tests have been administered the arrested person shall continue to remain in the custody of the arresting officer only if an information has already been filed against him in the proper court or if there is other evidence to warrant the continued detention of such person, otherwise he shall be released from custody after the expiration of the period for lawful detention as provided in the Revised Penal Code, pending the result of said examination/test.  Should the result of the examination/test be positive that the person arrested has ingested dangerous drugs, the arresting officer shall immediately forward the record of the case together with the result of the examination/test to the prosecuting officer for the filing of the appropriate information in Court.

SECTION 4.       This regulation shall take effect immediately.

Adopted: 22 Sept. 1982

(SGD.) J. C. AZURIN
(Minister of Health)
Chairman