text: Yes it can. If you are intoxicated in a public place or under the influence of alcohol or narcotics you can be arrested for DUI, DWI, or Public intoxication. If you are a danger to yourself or others or are considered a mental risk you can be taken into custody also for your protection. If a friend is at your home and sees Narcotics in plain view and they are a credible witness a search warrant can be obtained and your house searched and you subsequently can be arrested for what they find if it is in the warrant or not. An example would be your friend saw you smoking marijuana and you have a bag of it on your table. If your friend has given credible information before to the Police then they are proven up to be credible and a warrant is very easy to get. If a police officer is responding to a call at an apartment complex and your window is open and he/she smells you smoking a joint and looks in the window and sees you he no longer needs a warrant because in his/her training they have been trained to recognize the smell of burning marijuana and that is probable cause enough to snatch you up and hold you until a warrant can be obtained and if they can see the dope in plain view they don't even need the warrant.