
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document affected by Public Law 106-310 Section 3405(a)]
[CITE: 42USC260]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                    CHAPTER 6A--PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
 
                SUBCHAPTER II--GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES
 
             Part E--Narcotic Addicts and Other Drug Abusers
 
Sec. 260. Addicts and persons with drug abuse or drug dependence 
        problems
        

(a) Application for admission

    Any addict or other person with a drug abuse or other drug 
dependence problem, whether or not he shall have been convicted of an 
offense against the United States, may apply to the Surgeon General for 
admission to a hospital of the Service especially equipped for the 
accommodation of addicts or other persons with drug abuse and drug 
dependence problems.

(b) Determination of addiction; conditions of admission; payment of 
        subsistence, care, and treatment

    Any applicant shall be examined by the Surgeon General who shall 
determine whether the applicant is an addict or other person with a drug 
abuse or other drug dependence problem, whether by treatment in a 
hospital of the Service he may probably be cured of his addiction, drug 
abuse, or drug dependence, and the estimated length of time necessary to 
effect his cure. The Surgeon General may, in his discretion, admit the 
applicant to a Service hospital. No such addict or other person with a 
drug abuse or other drug dependence problem shall be admitted unless he 
agrees to submit to treatment for the maximum amount of time estimated 
by the Surgeon General to be necessary to effect a cure, and unless 
suitable accommodations are available after all eligible addicts or 
other persons with drug abuse and drug dependence problems convicted of 
offenses against the United States have been admitted. Any such addict 
or other person with a drug abuse or other drug dependence problem may 
be required to pay for his subsistence, care, and treatment at rates 
fixed by the Surgeon General and amounts so paid shall be covered into 
the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the appropriation 
from which the expenditure for his subsistence, care, and treatment was 
made. Appropriations available for the care and treatment of addicts or 
other persons with drug abuse and drug dependence problems admitted to a 
hospital of the Service under this section shall be available, subject 
to regulations, for paying the cost of transportation to any place 
within the continental United States, including subsistence allowance 
while traveling, for any indigent addict or other person with a drug 
abuse or other drug dependence problem who is discharged as cured.

(c) Period of confinement

    Any addict or other person with a drug abuse or other drug 
dependence problem admitted for treatment under this section, including 
any addict or other person with a drug abuse or other drug dependence 
problem, not convicted of an offense, who voluntarily submits himself 
for treatment, may be confined in a hospital of the Service for a period 
not exceeding the maximum amount of time estimated by the Surgeon 
General as necessary to effect a cure of the addiction, drug abuse, or 
drug dependence or until such time as he ceases to be an addict or other 
person with a drug abuse or other drug dependence problem.

(d) Other rights unaffected

    Any addict or other person with a drug abuse or other drug 
dependence problem admitted for treatment under this section shall not 
thereby forfeit or abridge any of his rights as a citizen of the United 
States; nor shall such admission or treatment be used against him in any 
proceeding in any court; and the record of his voluntary commitment 
shall, except as otherwise provided by this chapter, be confidential and 
shall not be divulged.

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, Sec. 344, 58 Stat. 701; June 25, 
1948, ch. 654, Sec. 5, 62 Stat. 1018; July 24, 1956, ch. 676, title III, 
Sec. 302(b), 70 Stat. 622; Pub. L. 91-513, title I, Sec. 2(a)(2)(A), 
(3), (4), Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1240.)


                               Amendments

    1970--Pub. L. 91-513 extended coverage of section to cover drug 
abuse or drug dependence and to cover persons with drug abuse or drug 
dependence problems.
    1956--Subsec. (d). Act July 24, 1956, substituted ``shall, except as 
otherwise provided by this chapter, be confidential'' for ``shall be 
confidential''.
    1948--Subsec. (b). Act June 25, 1948, inserted sentence at end to 
continue authority to provide transportation for indigent narcotics who 
are discharged as cured.

                          Transfer of Functions

    Functions of Public Health Service, Surgeon General of Public Health 
Service, and all other officers and employees of Public Health Service, 
and functions of all agencies of or in Public Health Service transferred 
to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 
1966, eff. June 25, 1966, 31 F.R. 8855, 80 Stat. 1610, set out as a note 
under section 202 of this title. Secretary of Health, Education, and 
Welfare redesignated Secretary of Health and Human Services by section 
509(b) of Pub. L. 96-88 which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 
20, Education.
