H. B. 3186


(By Delegates Tansill, Burdiss, Kessler
and Carmichael)

[Introduced February 22, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]



A BILL to amend and reenact §60A-1-101 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to reclassifying methamphetamine as a schedule II narcotic rather than a schedule II nonnarcotic.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §60A-1-101 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. DEFINITIONS.

§60A-1-101. Definitions.
As used in this act:
(a) "Administer" means the direct application of a controlled substance whether by injection, inhalation, ingestion or any other means to the body of a patient or research subject by:
(1) A practitioner (or, in his presence, by his authorized agent); or
(2) The patient or research subject at the direction and in the presence of the practitioner.
(b) "Agent" means an authorized person who acts on behalf of or at the direction of a manufacturer, distributor or dispenser. It does not include a common or contract carrier, public warehouseman or employee of the carrier or warehouseman.
(c) "Bureau" means the "Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, United States Department of Justice" or its successor agency.
(d) "Controlled substance" means a drug, substance or immediate precursor in Schedules I through V of article two.
(e) "Counterfeit substance" means a controlled substance which, or the container or labeling of which, without authorization, bears the trademark, trade name or other identifying mark, imprint, number or device, or any likeness thereof, of a manufacturer, distributor or dispenser other than the person who in fact manufactured, distributed or dispensed the substance.
(f) "Imitation controlled substance" means: (1) A controlled substance which is falsely represented to be a different controlled substance; (2) a drug or substance which is not a controlled substance but which is falsely represented to be a controlled substance; or (3) a controlled substance or other drug or substance or a combination thereof which is shaped, sized, colored, marked, imprinted, numbered, labeled, packaged, distributed or priced so as to cause a reasonable person to believe that it is a controlled substance.
(g) "Deliver" or "delivery" means the actual, constructive or attempted transfer from one person to another of: (1) A controlled substance, whether or not there is an agency relationship; (2) a counterfeit substance; or (3) an imitation controlled substance.
(h) "Dispense" means to deliver a controlled substance to an ultimate user or research subject by or pursuant to the lawful order of a practitioner, including the prescribing, administering, packaging, labeling or compounding necessary to prepare the substance for that delivery.
(i) "Dispenser" means a practitioner who dispenses.
(j) "Distribute" means to deliver, other than by administering or dispensing, a controlled substance, a counterfeit substance or an imitation controlled substance.
(k) "Distributor" means a person who distributes.
(l) "Drug" means: (1) Substances recognized as drugs in the official "United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States or official National Formulary", or any supplement to any of them; (2) substances intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in man or animals; (3) substances (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or animals; and (4) substances intended for use as a component of any article specified in clause (1), (2) or (3) of this subdivision. It does not include devices or their components, parts or accessories.
(m) "Immediate precursor" means a substance which the "West Virginia Board of Pharmacy" (hereinafter in this act referred to as the State Board of Pharmacy) has found to be and by rule designates as being the principal compound commonly used or produced primarily for use and which is an immediate chemical intermediary used or likely to be used in the manufacture of a controlled substance, the control of which is necessary to prevent, curtail or limit manufacture.
(n) "Manufacture" means the production, preparation, propagation, compounding, conversion or processing of a controlled substance, either directly or indirectly or by extraction from substances of natural origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis, and includes any packaging or repackaging of the substance or labeling or relabeling of its container, except that this term does not include the preparation, compounding, packaging or labeling of a controlled substance:
(1) By a practitioner as an incident to his administering or dispensing of a controlled substance in the course of his professional practice; or
(2) By a practitioner, or by his authorized agent under his supervision, for the purpose of, or as an incident to, research, teaching or chemical analysis and not for sale.
(o) "Marijuana" means all parts of the plant "Cannabis sativa L.", whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin. It does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of the mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil or cake, or the sterilized seed of the plant which is incapable of germination.
(p) "Narcotic drug" means any of the following, whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:
(1) Opium and opiate and any salt, compound, derivative or preparation of opium or opiate.
(2) Any salt, compound, isomer, derivative or preparation thereof which is chemically equivalent or identical with any of the substances referred to in paragraph (1) of this subdivision, but not including the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium.
(3) Opium poppy and poppy straw.
(4) Coca leaves and any salt, compound, derivative or preparation of coca leaves and any salt, compound, isomer, derivative or preparation thereof which is chemically equivalent or identical with any of these substances, but not including decocainized coca leaves or extractions of coca leaves which do not contain cocaine or ecgonine.
(5) Methamphetamine, its salts, isomers and salts of its isomers.
(q) "Opiate" means any substance having an addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability similar to morphine or being capable of conversion into a drug having addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability. It does not include, unless specifically designated as controlled under section two hundred one, article two of this chapter, the dextrorotatory isomer of 3-methoxy-n-methylmorphinan and its salts (dextromethorphan). It does not include its racemic and levorotatory forms.
(r) "Opium poppy" means the plant of the species "Papaver somniferum L.", except its seeds.
(s) "Person" means individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity.
(t) "Placebo" means an inert medicament or preparation administered or dispensed for its psychological effect, to satisfy a patient or research subject or to act as a control in experimental series.
(u) "Poppy straw" means all parts, except the seeds, of the opium poppy after mowing.
(v) "Practitioner" means:
(1) A physician, dentist, veterinarian, scientific investigator or other person licensed, registered or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, conduct research with respect to, or to administer a controlled substance in the course of professional practice or research in this state.
(2) A pharmacy, hospital or other institution licensed, registered or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, conduct research with respect to, or to administer a controlled substance in the course of professional practice or research in this state.
(w) "Production" includes the manufacture, planting, cultivation, growing or harvesting of a controlled substance.
(x) "State", when applied to a part of the United States, includes any state, district, commonwealth, territory, insular possession thereof and any area subject to the legal authority of the United States of America.
(y) "Ultimate user" means a person who lawfully possesses a controlled substance for his own use or for the use of a member of his household or for administering to an animal owned by him or by a member of his household.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reclassify methamphetamine as a schedule II narcotic rather than a schedule II nonnarcotic which also increases the penalty.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.