HARRY HUGHES, Governor                             3243

CHAPTER 880

(Senate Bill 699)

AN ACT concerning

State Hospitals and Facilities - Commitments

FOR the purpose of providing that State hospitals and other
facilities the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
shall accept custody of alcoholics or drug addicts who
are charged with criminal offenses and who are
committed to those facilities that Department.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,

Article 16 - Chancery

Section 49

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1973 Replacement Volume and 1979 Supplement)

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,

Article - Courts and Judicial Proceedings
Section 4-305(a)
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1980 Replacement Volume)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That section(s) of the Annotated Code of Maryland
be repealed, amended, or enacted to read as follows:

Article 16 - Chancery
49.

When any person charged with the commission of a
criminal offense is shown to the satisfaction of the judge
before whom he is brought to be suffering from chronic
alcoholism, or who is habitually addicted to the use of
narcotic drugs as that term is defined in Section 277(Q) of
Article 27 of this Code as amended from time to time, the
judge may commit him to one of the State hospitals THE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE for evaluation,
treatment and observation, under terms and conditions as he

may determine. THE STATE HOSPITAL OR OTHER FACILITY

DEPARTMENT SHALL ACCEPT CUSTODY OF THE PERSON SO COMMITTED.
The commitment shall be for not less than 96 hours or for
more than six weeks. The superintendent of the hospital or
other facility THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE OR
HIS DESIGNEE may terminate the commitment at any time after
96 hours upon his determination that further continued
commitment will not be in the best interests of the patient
or serve any useful purpose. IN THE CASE OF A USER OF