14103540D
HOUSE BILL NO. 684
Offered January 8, 2014
Prefiled January 7, 2014
A BILL to amend and reenact [ §§ 18.2-250.1
and 54.1-3408] of the Code of Virginia
and to repeal § 18.2-251.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to prescribing
marijuana as medicine.
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Patron-- Marshall, R.G.
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Committee Referral Pending
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That [ §§ 18.2-250.1 and
54.1.3408 of the Code of Virginia are is
] amended and reenacted as follows:
§18.2-250.1. Possession of marijuana unlawful.
A. It is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to
possess marijuana unless the substance was obtained directly from, or
pursuant to, a valid prescription or order of a practitioner while acting in
the course of his professional practice, or except as otherwise
authorized by the Drug Control Act (§54.1-3400 et seq.).
Upon the prosecution of a person for violation of this
section, ownership or occupancy of the premises or vehicle upon or in which
marijuana was found shall not create a presumption that such person either
knowingly or intentionally possessed such marijuana.
Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and be confined in jail not more than thirty days and a fine of
not more than $500, either or both; any person, upon a second or subsequent
conviction of a violation of this section, shall be guilty of a Class 1
misdemeanor.
B. The provisions of this section shall not apply to members
of state, federal, county, city or town law-enforcement agencies or
correctional officers, as defined in §53.1-1, certified as handlers of dogs
trained in the detection of controlled substances when possession of marijuana
is necessary for the performance of their duties.
[ §54.1-3408.
Professional use by practitioners.
A. A practitioner of medicine, osteopathy,
podiatry, dentistry, or veterinary medicine or a licensed nurse practitioner
pursuant to §54.1-2957.01 a
licensed physician's assistant pursuant to §54.1-2952.1, or a TPA-certified optometrist
pursuant to Article 5 (§54.1-3222 et
seq.) of Chapter 32 of this title shall only prescribe, dispense, or administer
controlled substances in good faith for medicinal or therapeutic purposes
within the course of his professional practice. The practitioner may prescribe,
on a written prescription or on oral prescription as authorized by this
chapter, and administer drugs and devices, or he may cause them to be
administered by a nurse, physician's assistant or intern under his direction
and supervision, or a practitioner may prescribe and cause drugs and devices to
be administered to patients in state-owned or state-operated hospitals or
facilities licensed as hospitals by the Board of Health or psychiatric
hospitals licensed by the State Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance
Abuse Services Board by other persons who have been trained properly to
administer drugs and who administer drugs only under the control and
supervision of the practitioner or a pharmacist or a practitioner may cause
drugs and devices to be administered to patients by emergency medical services personnel
who have been certified and authorized to administer such drugs and devices
pursuant to Board of Health regulations governing emergency medical services
and who are acting within the scope of such certification.
Pursuant to an oral or written order or standing
protocol issued by the practitioner within the course of his professional
practice, a practitioner may authorize registered nurses and licensed practical
nurses to possess (i) epinephrine for administration in treatment of emergency
medical conditions and (ii) heparin and sterile normal saline to use for the
maintenance of intravenous access lines.
A practitioner may authorize the administration of
vaccines to adults for immunization, when a practitioner with prescriptive
authority is not physically present, by registered nurses or licensed practical
nurses under the immediate and direct supervision of a registered nurse,
pursuant to a protocol approved by the Board of Nursing. A practitioner acting
on behalf of and in accordance with established protocols of the Department of
Health may authorize the administration of vaccines to any person by a nurse
when the prescriber is not physically present.
No practitioner of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry,
dentistry, or veterinary medicine or a licensed nurse practitioner pursuant to §
54.1-2957.01 a licensed physician's assistant
pursuant to §54.1-2952.1, or a TPA-certified optometrist pursuant to Article 5
(§54.1-3222 et seq.) of Chapter 32 of this title shall prescribe, dispense,
administer, or cause to be administered marijuana.
A dentist may cause Schedule VI topical drugs to be
administered under his direction and supervision by either a dental hygienist
or by an authorized agent of the dentist.
No written prescription order form shall include
more than one prescription. This provision shall not apply, however, to the
entry of any order on a patient's chart in any hospital or any long-term care
facility, as defined in Board regulations, in Virginia or to a prescription
ordered through the pharmacy operated by the Department of Corrections, the
central pharmacy of the Department of Health, or the central outpatient
pharmacy operated by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and
Substance Abuse Services.
Such a prescription shall be written, dated, and signed
by the person prescribing on the day when issued, and shall bear the full name
and address of the patient for whom the drug is prescribed, and the full name,
address, and registry number under the federal laws of the person prescribing,
if he is required by those laws to be so registered.
This section shall not prevent the administration
of drugs by a person who has satisfactorily completed a training program for
this purpose approved by the Board of Nursing and who administers such drugs in
accordance with a physician's instructions pertaining to dosage, frequency, and
manner of administration, and in accordance with regulations promulgated by the
Board of Pharmacy relating to security and record keeping, when the drugs
administered would be normally self-administered by (i) a resident of a
facility licensed or certified by the State Mental Health, Mental Retardation
and Substance Abuse Services Board; (ii) a resident of any adult care residence
which is licensed by the Department of Social Services; (iii) a resident of the
Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind; (iv) a resident of a facility
approved by the Board or Department of Juvenile Justice for the placement of
children in need of services or delinquent or alleged delinquent youth; (v) a program
participant of an adult day-care center licensed by the Department of Social
Services; or (vi) a resident of any facility authorized or operated by a state
or local government whose primary purpose is not to provide health care
services.
Nothing in this title shall prohibit the
administration of normally self-administered oral or topical drugs by
unlicensed individuals to a person in his private residence.
This section shall not interfere with any
prescriber issuing prescriptions in compliance with the provisions of this
section to a Board agent for use pursuant to subsection G of § 18.2-258.1.
Such prescriptions issued by such prescriber shall be deemed to be valid prescriptions.
This section shall not prohibit a prescriber from using preprinted
prescriptions for drugs classified in Schedule VI if all requirements
concerning dates, signatures, and other information specified above are
otherwise fulfilled.
B. The written prescription referred to in
subsection A of this section shall be written with ink or individually typed
and each prescription shall be manually signed by the prescriber. The
prescription may be prepared by an agent for his signature. The prescription
shall contain the name, address, telephone number, and federal controlled
substances registration number assigned to the prescriber. The prescriber's
information shall be either preprinted upon the prescription blank,
typewritten, rubber stamped, or printed by hand.
The oral prescription referred to in subsection A
of this section shall be transmitted to the pharmacy of the patient's choice by
the prescriber or his authorized agent. For the purposes of this section, an
authorized agent of the prescriber shall be an employee of the prescriber who
is under his immediate and personal supervision, or if not an employee, an
individual who holds a valid license allowing the administration or dispensing
of drugs and who is specifically directed by the prescriber.
C. Pursuant to §32.1-87, the prescription
form shall include two boxes, one labelled "Voluntary Formulary
Permitted" and the other labelled "Dispense As Written." A
prescriber may indicate his permission for the dispensing of a drug product
included in the Formulary upon signing a prescription form and marking the box
labelled "Voluntary Formulary Permitted." A Voluntary Formulary
product shall be dispensed if the prescriber fails to indicate his preference.
If no Voluntary Formulary product is immediately available, or if the patient
objects to the dispensing of a generic drug, the pharmacist may dispense a
brand name drug. On and after July 1, 1993, printed prescription forms shall provide:
" Dispense As
Written
Voluntary
Formulary Permitted
.......................
Signature of
prescriber
If neither box is marked, a Voluntary Formulary
product must be dispensed."
D. Prescribers' orders, whether written as chart
orders or prescriptions, for Schedules II, III, IV and V controlled drugs to be
administered to (i) patients or residents of long-term care facilities served
by a Virginia pharmacy from a remote location or (ii) patients receiving
parenteral, intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous or intraspinal infusion
therapy and served by a home infusion pharmacy from a remote location, may be
transmitted to that remote pharmacy by an electronic communications device over
telephone lines which send the exact image to the receiver in hard-copy form,
and such facsimile copy shall be treated as a valid, original prescription
order. ]
2. That § 18.2-251.1 of the Code of Virginia is
repealed.
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