2021 New Mexico Statutes
Article 2 - Alcoholics and Intoxicated Persons; Detoxification
Section 43-2-2 - Definitions.

As used in the Detoxification Reform Act:
A. "alcohol-impaired person" means a person who uses alcoholic beverages to the extent that the person's health and well-being are substantially impaired or endangered;
B. "authorized person" means a physician, public service officer or police officer;
C. "consistent with the least drastic means principle" means that the habilitation, protective custody or treatment and the conditions of habilitation, protective custody or treatment separately and in combination:
(1) are no more harsh, hazardous or intrusive than necessary to achieve acceptable treatment objectives or protection for the person committed; and
(2) involve no restrictions on physical movement except as reasonably necessary for the administration of treatment, for the security of the facility or for the protection of the person committed or another from physical injury;
D. "department" means the department of health;
E. "detention center" means a city, county or other jail, the administration of which agrees to accept intoxicated persons for protective custody; provided, however, that a detention center is authorized to hold a person in protective custody pursuant to Section 43-2-8 NMSA 1978 but is not otherwise subject to the provisions of the Detoxification Reform Act;
F. "drug-impaired person" means a person who uses drugs to the extent that the person's health and well-being are substantially impaired or endangered;
G. "incapacitated person" means a person who, as a result of the use of alcohol or drugs, is unconscious or has the person's judgment otherwise so impaired that the person is incapable of realizing and making rational decisions;
H. "intoxicated person" means a person whose mental or physical functioning is substantially impaired as a result of the use of alcohol or drugs;
I. "likely to inflict serious physical harm on another" means that it is more likely than not that in the near future the person will inflict serious, unjustified bodily harm on another person or commit a criminal sexual offense as evidenced by behavior causing, attempting or threatening such harm, which behavior gives rise to a reasonable fear of such harm from that person;
J. "likely to inflict serious physical harm on oneself" means that it is more likely than not that in the near future the person will attempt to commit suicide or will cause serious bodily harm to that person's self by violent or passive or other self-destructive means as evidenced by behavior causing, attempting or threatening the infliction of serious bodily harm to that person's self;
K. "protective custody" means confinement of an intoxicated person, for a period not less than twelve hours or more than seventy-two hours in length and under conditions consistent with the least drastic means principle;
L. "public service officer" means a civilian employee within a police department who is authorized by the police department to transport intoxicated or incapacitated persons to a treatment facility or detention center;
M. "treatment" means the broad range of emergency, outpatient, intermediate and inpatient services and care, including protective custody, diagnostic evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological and social service care, vocational rehabilitation and career counseling, which may be extended to alcohol-impaired, drug-impaired and intoxicated persons; and
N. "treatment facility" means:
(1) an institution under the supervision of the department and approved by the department for the care and treatment of alcohol-impaired persons or drug-impaired persons;
(2) a public institution approved by the department for the care and treatment of alcohol-impaired persons or drug-impaired persons, but not specifically under the supervision of the department; or
(3) any other facility that provides any of the services specified in the Detoxification Reform Act and is licensed by the department for those services.
History: 1953 Comp., § 46-12-2, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 374, § 1; 1979, ch. 264, § 1; 1983, ch. 177, § 2; 1989, ch. 47, § 1; 2005, ch. 198, § 2; 2019, ch. 272, § 1.
The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, defined "public service officer", and revised the definition of "authorized person" to include a public service officer, as used in the Detoxification Reform Act; in Subsection B, after "physician", added "public service officer"; and added a new Subsection L and redesignated former Subsections L and M as Subsections M and N, respectively.
The 2005 amendment, effective July 1, 2005, changed the statutory reference to the Detoxification Reform Act; in Subsection A, defined "alcohol-impaired person" and deleted the former definition of "alcoholic"; deleted former Subsection B, which defined "approved private treatment facility"; deleted former Subsection C, which defined "approved public treatment facility"; added a new Subsection B, which defined "authorized person"; added a new Subsection C, which defined "consistent with the least drastic means principle"; deleted former Subsection E, which defined "division" and added a new Subsection E, which defined "detention center"; deleted from the definition of "drug-impaired person" the requirement that a person habitually lacks self-control as to the use of drugs and that his social or economic function be substantially disrupted; added Subsection I, which defined "likely to inflict serious physical harm on another"; added a new Subsection J, which defined "likely to inflict serious physical harm on himself"; added a new Subsection K, which defined "protective custody"; in Subsection L, included "protective custody" in the definition of "treatment" ; deleted former Subsection J, which defined "consistent with the least drastic means principle"; deleted former Subsection K, which defined "likely to inflict serious physical harm on himself"; deleted former Subsection L, which defined "likely to inflict serious physical harm on another"; and added Subsection M, which defined "treatment facility".
The 1989 amendment, effective June 16, 1989, inserted "or drug-impaired persons" following "alcoholics" in Subsections B and C, substituted "substance abuse bureau" for "alcoholism bureau" in Subsection C, added present Subsection F, redesignated former Subsections F through K as present Subsections G through L, and inserted "or drugs" in Subsections G and H.
A public service officer is not a "peace officer". — Where defendant was charged with felony battery upon a peace officer, pursuant to § 30-22-24 NMSA 1978, after he hit the forearm of a public service officer (PSO) performing her duties under the Detoxication Reform Act (DRA), §§ 43-2-1.1 through 43-2-23 NMSA 1978, by escorting defendant to her vehicle to place him into protective custody, and where defendant filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that the evidence presented was insufficient to support defendant's charge of felony battery upon a peace officer because a PSO is not a "peace officer" as a matter of law, the district court did not err in reducing defendant's criminal charge from felony battery upon a peace officer to petty misdemeanor battery, because PSOs are not vested with a duty to maintain public order or to make arrests and therefore are not peace officers. State v. Becenti, 2021-NMCA-060.