30:7B-1. Interstate compact on mental health; findings and purposes
The Interstate Compact on Mental Health is hereby enacted into law and entered into by New Jersey with all other States legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:
INTERSTATE COMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH
The contracting States solemnly agree that:
ARTICLE I
The party States find that the proper and expeditious treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient can be facilitated by co-operative action, to the benefit of the patients, their families, and society as a whole. Further, the party States find that the necessity of and desirability for furnishing such care and treatment bears no primary relation to the residence or citizenship of the patient but that, on the contrary, the controlling factors of community safety and humanitarianism require that facilities and services be made available for all who are in need of them. Consequently, it is the purpose of this compact and of the party States to provide the necessary legal basis for the institutionalization or other appropriate care and treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient under a system that recognizes the paramount importance of patient welfare and to establish the responsibilities of the party States in terms of such welfare.
L.1956, c. 178, p. 677, art. I.