
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: 42USC261]

 
                 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. 261. Penalties for introducing prohibited articles and 
        substances into hospitals; escaping from, or aiding and abetting 
        escape from hospitals
        
    (a) Any person not authorized by law or by the Surgeon General who 
introduces or attempts to introduce into or upon the grounds of any 
hospital of the Service at which addicts or other persons with drug 
abuse and drug dependence problems are treated and cared for, any habit-
forming narcotic drug or substance controlled under the Controlled 
Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.], weapon, or any other contraband 
article or thing, or any contraband letter or message intended to be 
received by an inmate thereof, shall be guilty of a felony and, upon 
conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 
ten years.
    (b) It shall be unlawful for any person properly committed thereto 
to escape or attempt to escape from a hospital of the Service at which 
addicts or other persons with drug abuse and drug dependence problems 
are treated and cared for, and any such person upon apprehension and 
conviction in a United States court shall be punished by imprisonment 
for not more than five years, such sentence to begin upon the expiration 
of the sentence for which such person was originally confined.
    (c) Any person who procures the escape of any person admitted to a 
hospital of the Service at which addicts or other persons with drug 
abuse and drug dependence problems are treated and cared for, or who 
advises, connives at, aids, or assists in such escape, or who conceals 
any such inmate after such escape, shall be punished upon conviction in 
a United States court by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more 
than three years.

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, Sec. 346, formerly Sec. 345, 58 Stat. 
701; renumbered Sec. 346, May 8, 1954, ch. 195, Sec. 2, 68 Stat. 79; 
amended Pub. L. 91-513, title I, Sec. 2(a)(2)(A), (5), Oct. 27, 1970, 84 
Stat. 1240.)

                       References in Text

    The Controlled Substances Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is title 
II of Pub. L. 91-513, Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1242, as amended, which is 
classified principally to subchapter I (Sec. 801 et seq.) of chapter 13 
of Title 21, Foods and Drugs. For complete classification of this Act to 
the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 801 of Title 21 and 
Tables.


                               Amendments

    1970--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91-513, Sec. 2(a)(2), (5), extended 
section to cover hospitals in which persons with drug abuse and drug 
dependence problems are cared for and added substances controlled under 
the Controlled Substances Act to the enumeration of prohibited articles.
    Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 91-513, Sec. 2(a)(2), extended provisions 
to cover hospitals in which persons with drug abuse or drug dependence 
problems are treated and cared for.

                          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.
