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3246
LAWS OF MARYLAND
Ch. 882
FOR the purpose of requiring the Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene to accept certain persons committed to
its custody; changing the commitment authority of
District Court judges in cases affecting alcoholics or
drug addicts charged with a criminal offense procedures
for judicial commitment of alcoholics and drug addicts
charged with a criminal offense; and altering
provisions pertaining to the termination of the
commitment of these persons.
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be repealed, amended, or enacted to read as follows: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
STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE for
evaluation, treatment and observation, under terms and
conditions as he may determine. THE 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
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 narcotic drugs, the
commitment shall be made by the judge only after
consultation with the superintendent of the mental hospital
to which the commitment is to be made DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
AND MENTAL HYGIENE. THE COMMITTING COURT SHALL BE NOTIFIED
BY THE SECRETARY, OR HIS DESIGNEE, OF THE PROPOSED RELEASE
DATE AND THE TIME OF RELEASE PRIOR TO THAT RELEASE.
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