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Okla. Stat. tit. 43A, § 43A-3-428

This is the official text of Okla. Stat. tit. 43A, § 43A-3-428, part of Oklahoma’s Stat. tit. 43A, — part of the compiled statutory law of Oklahoma, published by the state as "Stat. tit. 43A,." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Intoxicated person in public place - Assistance -

Official statutory text

Protective custody - Detention.

A. An intoxicated person in a public place who appears to be in

need of help, if the person consents to the offered help, may be

assisted to:

1. His or her home;

2. An alternative facility pursuant to the provisions of this

section; or

3. An approved treatment or evaluation facility by a peace

officer or an emergency service patrol.

B. 1. A person who appears to be intoxicated, and as a result

of such intoxication is unconscious in a public place or reasonably

appears to be in danger of harming himself or herself or others, may

be taken into protective custody by a peace officer or an emergency

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 43A. Mental Health Page 92

service patrol and immediately brought to an approved treatment

facility for medical or nonmedical detoxification.

2. The peace officer or the emergency service patrol, in

detaining the person and taking the person to an approved treatment

facility, is taking the person into protective custody and shall

make every reasonable effort to protect the person’s health and

safety.

3. In taking the person into protective custody, the detaining

officer may take reasonable steps for self-protection. No record

shall be made which indicates that the person has been arrested or

charged with a crime.

C. 1. If the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Services, or the governing body of any municipality, has approved a

program alternative to statutory or municipal requirements of

prosecution and imprisonment of such person, until the capacity to

accommodate intoxicated persons has been exceeded in the facility

wherein such alternative program is located, the arresting officer

and other public officials involved in an arrest pursuant to this

section shall utilize such alternative treatment program upon the

voluntary approval of the intoxicated person and the receiving

facility rather than proceed under the statutory or municipal laws

pertaining to prosecution and imprisonment of intoxicated persons.

2. A facility in which the program is located may make

application to the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Services for approval, but no such program or facility wherein such

program is located shall claim or advertise to be a certified

treatment facility unless duly certified as such by the Department

of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

3. All facilities acquiring the approval of an alternative

program shall establish their own capacity for the number of persons

to be accommodated in the program.

4. It shall be the duty of the State Department of Health to

investigate all complaints concerning general sanitation made in the

form of a sworn affidavit against such municipally approved

alternative facilities.

5. In the event the complaints are found to be true, the State

Commissioner of Health shall have the power to order improvements or

closure.

D. A person who is brought to an alternative facility or an

approved treatment facility may be admitted as a consumer by the

administrator in charge of the facility or referred to another

treatment facility.

E. 1. A person may not be detained at the approved treatment

facility when the person either is no longer unconscious, or no

longer appears likely to be of harm to self or others.

2. If the person remains unconscious or likely to harm himself

or herself or others, the person may be detained for no more than

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 43A. Mental Health Page 93

twelve (12) hours, excluding weekends and legal holidays, after

admission unless a petition for an order directing the commitment of

the person to an approved treatment facility has been filed

according to the Mental Health Law provisions and procedures for

commitment. The person may consent to remain in the facility as

long as the administrator or physician in charge believes

appropriate.

F. If a person is admitted to an approved treatment facility
ter

admission unless a petition for an order directing the commitment of

the person to an approved treatment facility has been filed

according to the Mental Health Law provisions and procedures for

commitment. The person may consent to remain in the facility as

long as the administrator or physician in charge believes

appropriate.

F. If a person is admitted to an approved treatment facility

under this section, the person may notify relatives of the admission

or another person may, with the consent of the admittee, notify

relatives of the admission.

G. 1. A person in possession of a controlled dangerous

substance, as defined in Section 2-101 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma

Statutes, or in possession of drug paraphernalia, as defined in

Section 2-405 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes, who appears to

be in need of help, and if the person consents to the offered help,

in lieu of arrest, may be taken to:

a. an approved drug treatment center,

b. an approved center for substance abuse evaluation, or

c. some other facility, as defined in paragraph 1 of

subsection C of this section, by a law enforcement

officer.

2. Any creation of a program as provided in this subsection

shall be subject to the authority of the appropriate county,

municipal or tribal governing body and any of its subsidiaries. The

Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has the

authority to approve or disapprove individual treatment centers as

described in this subsection.

3. The creation of any program as provided in this subsection

must be created with the advice and consent of the county’s district

attorney and must be approved annually by the county’s district

attorney.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.