Key Takeaways

Detox release involves a Minnesota 72-hour hold law for chemical or mental health emergencies.
Police generally bring individuals to detox for medical reasons like severe intoxication or withdrawal.
Detox release before 72-hours may require a court Order for release if medically stable.
Even if a patient was intoxicated on admission, medical testing may show the emergency ended.
Hiring a lawyer for early release may not guarantee success and takes time to process.

To understand detox release, you need to understand a bit of the law.

Peace Officer, Physician or Hospital: Emergency 72-Hour Hold

Minnesota Statutes Section 253B.051 provides legal authority for a “police officer, physician or hospital hold.” They can hold a person against their will, without a court order for a limited time; based upon claims of chemical health or mental health emergency.

72 hour hold law: The most common are 72 hour mental health emergency (hospital) holds and 72 hour chemical health (Detox) holds.

Mostly, people end up in Detox after a police contact. Sometimes a DWI stop gets the ball rolling, But most Detox admissions by police do not involve vehicles or driving.

When police encounter a dangerously intoxicated person, they bring the person to Detox. Alcohol is the drug that leads to most detox admissions. But a few are related to medical issues from other drugs.

Two types of medical issues: To understand detox release, it’s important to understand the purpose of detox. A Detox Center is capable of helping people with two types of medical issues related to alcohol and other drug use. The first is medical emergencies related to overdose and excessive toxic levels of alcohol or other drugs in the person. Think extremely drunk people, for example.

The second type is people at risk of death due to alcohol or other drug withdrawal – a characteristic of alcohol and other drug addiction. The medical professionals at a detox center will generally monitor patients health, generally including taking vital signs every fifteen minutes.

Police bring person to Detox facility

Some police officers abuse this law, when a person offends them. But police should only bring a person to a locked detox facility for medical reasons.

If a person held in a locked detox facility is no longer under a medical emergency, a lawyer may be able to Petition the court for an Order for their release. The lawyer will need to check and investigate with detox staff to see if the persons vitals are normal, and the person could be discharged with medical approval.

Chem health & detox release: Getting out of detox in less than three days is more difficult than getting out of jail. Other circumstances can also lead to an illegal hold in a detox center or a hospital. For example, attempted illegal serial statutory holds (72 hours + 72 hours …) are illegal. These abuses are expensive and a waste of taxpayer dollars and public healthcare resources.

Judge can Order healthy person’s detox release

Detox release before the 72-hour hold expires may require a judge’s Court Order.

But judges won’t sign that Release Order unless the patient is medically stable, according to the Detox medical staff. After all, if the patient is medically stable then Detox lock up is medically unnecessary.

Detox Release Attorney

You could wait it out. Or, you can hire a lawyer to try to convince a judge to sign a Detox Release Order. But a judge won’t, unless vital signs of the person are adequate to remove any medical emergency.

Even if drunk at admission, the next day they may be sober. The Detox Center can use a breath test machine to test for alcohol levels.

If sober with no withdrawal symptoms, the person is not a medical emergency. If so, there should be no medical reason to detain or incarcerate the person.

Is it worth the cost?

The cost of hiring a lawyer and paying court civil filing fees is not cheap. Is it worth it just to get a release a day or two sooner? That is for each person to decide. And, there is no guarantee that it will even work. (See above about conditions needed.)

A person held against their will in a hospital or detox center can call a lawyer for help getting out.

But because 72-hours is three days, time is of the essence in these cases. Especially since it takes the better part of a day, or longer, for a lawyer to:

meet with the client,
do the investigation work,
prepare & file documents,
meet with the judge, & hopefully,
deliver the release Order to the Detox Center.

As a result, Attorney Thomas Gallagher might not be able to help on any given day due to scheduling conflicts.

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