Definitions

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  • For purposes of this chapter:
    • (1) “Alcoholic” means a person who habitually lacks self-control as to the use of alcoholic beverages, or uses alcoholic beverages to the extent that his health is substantially impaired or endangered or his social or economic function is substantially disrupted;

    • (2) “Approved private treatment facility” means a private agency meeting the standards prescribed in section 718(a) of this title and approved under section 718(c) of this title;

    • (3) “Approved public treatment facility” means a treatment agency operating under the direction and control of the Division or providing treatment under this chapter through a contract with the Division under section 717(g) of this title and meeting the standards prescribed in section 718(a) of this title and approved under section 718(c) of this title;

    • (4) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Department of Health;

    • (5) “Department” means the Department of Health;

    • (6) “Director” means the Director of the Division of Mental Health, Alcoholism and Drug Dependency Services;

    • (7) “Division” means the Division of Mental Health, Alcoholism and Drug Dependency Services established under section 712 of this title;

    • (8) “Emergency service patrol” means a patrol established under section 726 of this title;

    • (9) “Incapacitated by alcohol” means a condition of intoxication caused by use of alcohol in which the person is unconscious or unable to speak coherently or unable to control body movements in a coordinated and effective manner;

    • (10) “Incompetent person” means a person who has been adjudged incompetent by the Superior Court;

    • (11) “Intoxicated person” means a person whose mental or physical functioning is substantially impaired as a result of the use of alcohol;

    • (12) “Treatment” means the broad range of emergency, outpatient, intermediate and inpatient services and care, including diagnostic evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological and social service care, vocational rehabilitation and career counseling, which may be extended to alcoholics and intoxicated persons;

    • (13) “Drug dependence” means a state of psychic or physical dependence, or both, on a drug, arising in a person following administration of that drug on a periodic or continuous basis. The characteristics of such a state will vary with the agent involved, and these characteristics must always be made clear, designating the particular type of drug dependence in each specific case, for example, drug dependence of the alcohol type, morphine type, of the barbiturate type or of the amphetamine type;

    • (14) “Mental health professional” means a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse, mental health counselor, or a mental health or psychiatric social worker, or in their absence, an emergency medical technician (EMT);

    • (15) “Mentally disturbed person” means a person whose mental functions are sufficiently impaired to interfere grossly with his capacity to meet the ordinary demands of life, the result of which is that such person's thinking, mood, and behavior have become irrational or distorted from reality, whether such condition has been caused by organic brain tissue damage or by psychological causes.

    • (16) “Peace officer” means, for purposes of this chapter, any marshal, deputy marshal, or member of the police force.


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