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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>85045</law_id><section_number>18.2-388</section_number><catch_line>Intoxication in public; penalty; transportation of public inebriates to detoxification center</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>16.1-278.9</reference><reference>18.2-251.03</reference><reference>18.2-308.012</reference><reference>19.2-169.1</reference><reference>19.2-169.2</reference><reference>19.2-327.15</reference><reference>19.2-392.12</reference><reference>19.2-74</reference><reference>4.1-322</reference><reference>9.1-176</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="18.2">Crimes and Offenses Generally</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="8">Crimes Involving Morals and Decency</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="5">Obscenity and Related Offenses</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>If any person is intoxicated in public, whether such intoxication results from alcohol, narcotic drug, or other intoxicant or drug of whatever nature, he is guilty of a Class 4 <span class="dictionary">misdemeanor</span>. In any area in which there is located a <span class="dictionary">court</span>-approved detoxification center, a <span class="dictionary">law</span>-enforcement officer may authorize the transportation, by police or otherwise, of public inebriates to such detoxification center in lieu of <span class="dictionary">arrest</span>; however, no person shall be involuntarily detained in such center.</p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 18.1-237; 1960, c. 358; 1964, c. 434; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1979, c. 654; 1982, c. 666; 1983, c. 187; 1990, c. 965; 2020, c. 160.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
