PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT

NOTE. Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1966 (printed in the Appendix) transferred all statutory powers and functions of the Surgeon General and other officers of the Public Health Service and of all agencies of or in the Service to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. While the Public Health Service Act was not formally amended by that Reorganization Plan, references in the Act to the Surgeon General and such other officers should be read in the light of the transfer of statutory functions.

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PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT

TITLE I-SHORT TITLE AND DEFINITIONS

SHORT TITLE

SEC. 1. Titles I to XI inclusive, of this Act may be 42 U.S.C. 201 cited as the "Public Health Service Act".

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 2. When used in this Act

(a) The term "Service" means the Public Health Service;

(b) The term "Surgeon General" means the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service;

(c) Unless the context otherwise requires, the term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

(d) The term "regulations", except when otherwise specified, means rules and regulations made by the Surgeon General with the approval of the Secretary;

(e) The term "executive department" means any executive department, agency, or independent establishment of the United States or any corporation wholly owned by the United States;

(f) The term "State" means a State or the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands, except that as used in section 361 (d) such term means a State, or the District of Columbia;

(g) The term "possession" includes, among other possessions, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

(h) The term "seamen" includes any person employed on board in the care, preservation, or navigation of any vessel, or in the service, on board, of those engaged in such care, preservation, or navigation;

(i) The term "vessel" includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable (3)

Note

42 U.S.C. 201

of being used, as a means of transportation on water, exclusive of aircraft and amphibious contrivances;

(j) The term "habit-forming narcotic drug" or "narcotic" means opium and coca leaves and the several alkaloids derived therefrom, the best known of these alkaloids being morphia, heroin, and codeine, obtained from opium, and cocaine derived from the coca plant; all compounds, salts, preparations, or other derivatives obtained either from the raw material or from the various alkaloids; Indian hemp and its various derivatives, compounds, and preparations, and peyote in its various forms; isonipecaine and its derivatives, compounds, salts and preparations; opiates (as defined in section 3228 (f) of the Internal Revenue Code);

(k) The term "addict" means any person who habitually uses any habit-forming narcotic drugs so as to endanger the public morals, health, safety, or welfare, or who is or has been so far addicted to the use of such habit-forming narcotic drugs as to have lost the power of self-control with reference to his addiction;

(1) The term "psychiatric disorders" includes diseases of the nervous system which affect mental health;

(m) The term "State mental health authority" means the State health authority, except that, in the case of any State in which there is a single State agency, other than the State health authority, charged with responsi-bility for administering the mental health program of the State, it means such other State agency;

(n) The term "heart diseases" means diseases of the heart and circulation;

(0) The term "dental diseases and conditions" means diseases and conditions affecting teeth and their supporting structures, and other related diseases of the mouth; and

(p) The term "uniformed service" means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, or Coast and Geodetic Survey.

(q) The term "drug dependent person" means a person who is using a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act) and who is in a state of psychic or physical dependence, or both, arising from the use of that substance on a continuous basis. Drug dependence is characterized by behavioral and other responses which include a strong compulsion to take the substance on a continuous basis in order to experience its psychic effects or to avoid the discomfort caused by its absence.

TITLE II-ADMINISTRATION

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

SEC. 201. The Public Health Service in the Depart- 42 U.S.C. 202 ment of Health, Education, and Welfare shall be administered by the Surgeon General under the supervision and direction of the Secretary.

ORGANIZATION

SEC. 202.1 The Service shall consist of (1) the Office 42 U.S.C. 203 of the Surgeon General, (2) the National Institutes of Health, (3) the Bureau of Medical Services, and (4) the Bureau of State Services. The Surgeon General is authorized and directed to assign to the Office of the Surgeon General, to the National Institutes of Health, to the Bureau of Medical Services, and to the Bureau of State Services, respectively, the several functions of the Service, and to establish within them such divisions, sections and other units as he may find necessary; and from time to time, abolish, transfer, and consolidate divisions, sections, and other units and assign their functions and personnel in such manner as he may find necessary for efficient operation of the Service. No division shall be established, abolished, or transferred, and no divisions shall be consolidated, except with the approval of the Secretary. The National Institutes of Health shall be administered as a part of the field service. The Surgeon General may delegate to any officer or employee of the Service such of his powers and duties under this Act, except the making of regulations, as he may deem necessary or expedient.

COMMISSIONED CORPS

SEC. 203. There shall be in the Service a commissioned 42 U.S.C. 204 Regular Corps and, for the purpose of securing a reserve for duty in the Service in time of national emergency, a Reserve Corps. All commissioned officers shall be citizens and shall be appointed without regard to the civil-service laws and compensated without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. Commis

1 The organizational units specified in this section were all abolished as statutory entities by Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1966 which is printed in full in the Appendix.

Civil service and classification laws are now codified in title 5, United States Code.

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