Bill Text: NJ A4357 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires pharmacies and prescribers to notify patients about how to ensure proper and safe disposal of unused prescription drugs.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-09-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [A4357 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A4357-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman MARY PAT ANGELINI
District 11 (Monmouth)
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires pharmacies and prescribers to notify patients about how to ensure proper and safe disposal of unused prescription drugs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the disposal of unused prescription drugs, amending P.L.1991, c.187, and supplementing P.L.2003, c.280 (C.45:14-40 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 46 of P.L.1991, c.187 (C.45:9-22.11) is amended to read as follows:
46. A physician or other person authorized by law to prescribe drugs or medicines shall not dispense more than a seven-day supply of drugs or medicines to any patient. The drugs or medicines shall be dispensed at or below the cost the [physician] prescriber has paid for the particular drug or medicine, plus an administrative cost not to exceed [10%] 10 percent of the cost of the drug or medicine.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to a [physician] prescriber:
a. who dispenses drugs or medicines in a hospital emergency room, a student health center at an institution of higher education, or a publicly subsidized community health center, family planning clinic or prenatal clinic, if the drugs or medicines that are dispensed are directly related to the services provided at the facility;
b. whose practice is situated 10 miles or more from a licensed pharmacy;
c. when [he] the prescriber dispenses allergenic extracts and injectables;
d.when [he] the prescriber dispenses drugs pursuant to an oncological or AIDS protocol;
e. when [he] the prescriber dispenses salves, ointments or drops; or
f. when [he] the prescriber dispenses a drug or medicine delivered to the eye through a contact lens.
A prescriber shall furnish to a patient, with each prescription drug or medicine dispensed for that patient pursuant to this section, a copy of the notice prepared by the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
The provisions of this section shall not apply to a licensed chiropractic physician who dispenses food concentrates, food extracts, vitamins, minerals, herbs, enzymes, amino acids, tissue or cell salts, glandular extracts, neutraceuticals, botanicals, homeopathic remedies, and other nutritional supplements.
(cf: P.L.2010, c.12, s.1)
2. (New section) a. A pharmacy practice site shall distribute with each prescription drug that it dispenses a copy of the notice prepared pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
b. The Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety shall prepare and post on its website a notice, for use by a prescriber pursuant to section 46 of P.L.1991, c.187 (C.45:9-22.11), and which a pharmacy practice site shall utilize for the purposes of subsection a. of this section, to advise customers and patients about:
(1) the availability of drug take-back programs sponsored by a local, State or federal government agency; and
(2) how to obtain information from the website for those programs concerning where unused prescription drugs may be dropped off for the purpose of ensuring their safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally sound disposal.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following the date of enactment, but the Division of Consumer Affairs may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
The purpose of this bill is to provide information to the general public about how to ensure proper and safe disposal of unused prescription drugs.
Specifically, the bill requires that each pharmacy practice site and each prescriber distribute, for every prescription drug dispensed, a copy of a notice prepared by the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety and posted on its website, to advise patients about: the availability of drug take-back programs sponsored by a local, State or federal government agency; and how to obtain information from those programs concerning where unused prescription drugs may be dropped off for safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally sound disposal.
The bill takes effect on the first day of the seventh month following enactment, but authorizes the Division of Consumer Affairs to take prior administrative action as necessary for its implementation.
