You are assessing a 28-year-old male patient. His roommates tell you that he was despondent over a recent breakup and took a handful of pills at an unknown time. The roommates found the patient asleep an hour ago and have been unable to wake him since. After assessing the patient, you find him to be snoring loudly and unresponsive to painful stimuli. He is breathing at a rate of approximately 12 breaths per minute with adequate chest rise and fall. Your paramedic partner asks you to intubate the patient. The indication for intubation in this case is