WEST virginia legislature

2024 regular session

ENGROSSED

Committee Substitute

for

House Bill 5635

By Delegates Griffith and Summers

[Originating in the Committee on Health and Human Resources; Reported on February 15, 2024]

A BILL to amend and reenact §60A-3-308 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to allowing patients to direct prescribers to list the illness or condition for which a prescription is being issued on the label of the prescription.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 3: REGULATION OF MANUFACTURE, DISTRIBUTION AND DISPENSING OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES.

§60A-3-308. Prescriptions.

(a) Except when dispensed directly by a practitioner, other than a pharmacy, to an ultimate user, no controlled substance in Schedule II may be dispensed without the lawful prescription of a practitioner.

(b) In emergency situations, as defined by rule of the said appropriate department, board or agency, Schedule II drugs may be dispensed upon oral prescription of a practitioner, reduced promptly to writing and filed by the pharmacy. Prescription shall be retained in conformity with the requirements of section three hundred six of this article. §60A-3-306. No prescription for a Schedule II substance may be refilled.

(c) Except when dispensed directly by a practitioner, other than a pharmacy, to an ultimate user, a controlled substance included in Schedule III or IV, which is a prescription drug as determined under appropriate state or federal statute, shall not be dispensed without a lawful prescription of a practitioner. The prescription shall not be filled or refilled more than six months after the date thereof or be refilled more than five times unless renewed by the practitioner.

(d) (1) A controlled substance included in Schedule V shall not be distributed or dispensed other than for a medicinal purpose: Provided, That buprenorphine shall be dispensed only by prescription pursuant to subsections (a), (b) and (c) of this section: Provided, however, That the controlled substances included in subsection (e), section two hundred twelve, article two of this chapter §60A-2-212(e) shall be dispensed, sold or distributed only by a physician, in a pharmacy by a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, or health care professional.

(2) If the substance described in subsection (e), section two hundred twelve, article two §60A-2-212(e) of this chapter is dispensed, sold or distributed in a pharmacy:

(A) The substance shall be dispensed, sold or distributed only by a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician; and

(B) Any person purchasing, receiving or otherwise acquiring any such substance shall produce a photographic identification issued by a state or federal governmental entity reflecting his or her date of birth.; and

(e) A prescriber issuing a new prescription shall ask the patient or authorized guardian if the patient wishes to have the intended use for the medication or the medical condition included in the directions of the patient's prescription container label.