36-2525

36-2525. Prescription orders; labels

A. In addition to requirements in section 32-1968, pertaining to prescription
orders for prescription-only drugs, the prescription order for a controlled substance
shall bear the name, address and federal registration number of the prescriber. A
prescription order for a schedule II controlled substance drug other than a hospital drug
order for a hospital inpatient shall contain only one drug order per prescription blank.
If authorized verbally by the prescriber, the pharmacist may make changes to correct
errors or omissions made by the prescriber on the following parts of a written schedule
II controlled substance prescription order:

1. The date issued.

2. The strength, dosage form or quantity of drug.

3. The directions for its use.

B. The pharmacist must document on the original prescription order the changes that
were made pursuant to the verbal authorization and record the time and date the
authorization was granted.

C. A person registered to dispense controlled substances under this chapter must
keep and maintain prescription orders for controlled substances as follows:

1. Prescription orders for controlled substances listed in schedules I and II must
be maintained in a separate prescription file for controlled substances listed in
schedules I and II only.

2. Prescription orders for controlled substances listed in schedules III, IV and V
must be maintained either in a separate prescription file for controlled substances
listed in schedules III, IV and V only or in a form that allows them to be readily
retrievable from the other prescription records of the registrant. For the purposes of
this paragraph, "readily retrievable" means that when the prescription is initially
filed, the face of the prescription is stamped in red ink in the lower right corner with
the letter "C" in a font that is not less than one inch high and that the prescription is
filed in the usual consecutively numbered prescription file for noncontrolled substance
prescriptions. The requirement to stamp the hard copy prescription with a red "C" is
waived if a registrant employs an electronic data processing system or other electronic
record keeping system for prescriptions that permits identification by prescription
number and retrieval of original documents by prescriber's name, patient's name, drug
dispensed and date filled.

D. Except in emergency situations in conformity with subsection E of this section,
under the conditions specified in subsections F and G of this section or when dispensed
directly by a medical practitioner to an ultimate user, a controlled substance in
schedule II shall not be dispensed without the written prescription order in ink or
indelible pencil or typewritten and manually signed by the medical practitioner. A
prescription order for a schedule II substance shall not be dispensed more than ninety
days after the date on which the prescription order was issued. A prescription order for
a schedule II substance shall not be refilled.

E. In emergency situations, emergency quantities of schedule II substances may be
dispensed on an oral prescription order of a medical practitioner. Such an emergency
prescription order shall be immediately reduced to writing by the pharmacist and shall
contain all the information required for schedule II drugs except for the manual signing
of the order by the medical practitioner. Within seven days after authorizing an
emergency oral prescription order, the prescribing medical practitioner shall cause a
written prescription order manually signed for the emergency quantity prescribed to be
delivered to the dispensing pharmacist. In addition to conforming to other requirements
for prescription orders for schedule II substances, it shall have written on its face
"authorization for emergency dispensing" and the date of the oral order. If the
prescribing medical practitioner fails to deliver such an emergency prescription order
within seven days in conformance with board rules, the pharmacist shall notify the board.
Failure of the pharmacist to notify the board shall void the authority conferred by this
subsection to dispense without a written, manually-signed prescription order of a medical
practitioner.

F. The following may be transmitted to a pharmacy by facsimile by a patient's
medical practitioner or the medical practitioner's agent:

1. A prescription order written for a schedule II controlled substance to be
compounded for the direct administration to a patient by parenteral, intravenous,
intramuscular, subcutaneous or intraspinal infusion.

2. A prescription order written for any schedule II controlled substance for a
resident of a long-term care facility.

3. A prescription order written for a schedule II controlled substance for a
patient enrolled in a hospice care program certified or paid for by medicare under title
XVIII or a hospice program that is licensed by this state. The medical practitioner or
the medical practitioner's agent must note on the prescription that the patient is a
hospice patient.

G. A facsimile transmitted pursuant to subsection F of this section is the original
written prescription order for purposes of this section and must be maintained as
required by subsection C of this section.

H. Except when dispensed directly by a medical practitioner to an ultimate user, a
controlled substance included in schedule III or IV that requires a prescription order as
determined under state or federal laws shall not be dispensed without a written or oral
prescription order of a medical practitioner. The prescription order shall not be filled
or refilled more than six months after the date on which the prescription order was
issued. A prescription order authorized to be refilled shall not be refilled more than
five times. Additional quantities may only be authorized by the prescribing medical
practitioner through issuance of a new prescription order that shall be treated by the
pharmacist as a new and separate prescription order.

I. Except when dispensed directly by a medical practitioner to an ultimate user, a
controlled substance that is included in schedule V and that requires a prescription
order as determined under state or federal laws shall not be dispensed without a written
or oral prescription order of a medical practitioner. The prescription order may be
refilled as authorized by the prescribing medical practitioner but shall not be filled or
refilled more than one year after the date of issuance.

J. A controlled substance that is listed in schedule III, IV or V and that does not
require a prescription order as determined under state or federal laws may be dispensed
at retail by a pharmacist, a pharmacy intern or a graduate intern under the pharmacist's
supervision without a prescription order to a purchaser who is at least eighteen years of
age if all of the following are true:

1. It is for a legitimate medical purpose.

2. Not more than two hundred forty cubic centimeters (eight ounces) of any such
controlled substance containing opium, nor more than one hundred twenty cubic centimeters
(four ounces) of any other such controlled substance, nor more than forty-eight dosage
units of any such controlled substance containing opium, nor more than twenty-four dosage
units of any other controlled substance may be dispensed at retail to the same purchaser
in any given forty-eight hour period.

3. No more than one hundred dosage units of any single active ingredient ephedrine
preparation may be sold, offered for sale, bartered, or given away to any one person in
any one thirty-day period.

4. The pharmacist, pharmacy intern or graduate intern requires every purchaser of a
controlled substance under this subsection not known to that person to furnish suitable
identification, including proof of age where appropriate.

5. A bound record book for dispensing controlled substances under this subsection
is maintained by the pharmacist and contains the name and address of the purchaser, the
name and quantity of the controlled substance purchased, the date of each purchase and
the name or initials of the pharmacist, pharmacy intern or graduate intern who dispensed
the substance to the purchaser. Such book shall be maintained in conformity with the
record keeping requirements of section 36-2523.

K. In the absence of a law requiring a prescription for a schedule V controlled
substance, the board, by rules, may require, or remove the requirement of, a prescription
order for a schedule V controlled substance.

L. The label on a container of a controlled substance directly dispensed by a
medical practitioner or pharmacist, not for the immediate administration to the ultimate
user, such as a bed patient in a hospital, shall bear the name and address of the
dispensing medical practitioner or pharmacist, the serial number, date of dispensing,
name of prescriber, name of patient or, if an animal, the name of the owner of the animal
and the species of the animal, directions for use and cautionary statements, if any,
contained in the prescription order or required by law. If the controlled substance is
included in schedule II, III or IV the label shall bear a transfer warning to the effect:
"Caution: federal law prohibits the transfer of this drug to any person other than the
patient for whom it was prescribed".

M. The board, by rule, may provide additional requirements for prescribing and
dispensing controlled substances.