§329-38 Prescriptions. (a) No controlled substance in schedule II may be dispensed without a written prescription of a practitioner, except:

(1) In an emergency situation, those drugs may be dispensed upon oral prescription of a practitioner; provided that promptly thereafter, the prescription is reduced to writing by the practitioner and filed by the pharmacy; or

(2) When dispensed directly by a practitioner, other than a pharmacist, to the ultimate user. The practitioner in dispensing a controlled substance in schedule II shall affix to the package a label showing:

(A) The date of dispensing;

(B) The name, strength, and quantity issued of the drug;

(D) The name of the patient;

(E) The date the potency of the drug expires if that date is available from the manufacturer or principal labeler; and

(F) Directions for use, and cautionary statements, if any, contained in the prescription or as required by law.

A complete and accurate record of all schedule II controlled substances ordered, administered, prescribed, and dispensed shall be maintained for five years. All schedule II prescriptions shall be written by the practitioner in duplicate. Prescriptions and records of dispensing shall otherwise be retained in conformance with the requirements of section 329-36. No prescription for a controlled substance in schedule II may be refilled.

(b) The transfer of original prescription information for a controlled substance listed in schedule III, IV, or V for the purpose of refill dispensing is permissible between pharmacies on a one time basis, subject to the following requirements:

(1) The transfer shall be communicated directly between two licensed pharmacists, and the transferring pharmacist shall:

(A) Write or otherwise place the word "VOID" on the face of the invalidated prescription;

(B) Record on the reverse of the invalidated prescription the name, address, and DEA registration number of the pharmacy to which it was transferred and the name of the pharmacist receiving the prescription information; and

(2) The pharmacist receiving the transferred prescription information shall:

(A) Write or otherwise place the word "transfer" on the face of the transferred prescription;

(B) Record all information required to be on a prescription, including:

(i) The date of issuance of original prescription;

(ii) The original number of refills authorized on original prescription;

(iii) The date of original dispensing;

(iv) The number of valid refills remaining and date of last refill;

(v) The pharmacy's name, address, DEA registration number, and original prescription number from which the prescription information was transferred; and

(vi) The name of transferor pharmacist;

(3) Both the original and transferred prescription must be maintained for a period of five years from the date of last refill; and

(4) The procedure allowing the transfer of prescription information for refill purposes is permissible only between pharmacies located on the same island in this State.

Failure to comply with this subsection shall void the authority of the pharmacy to transfer prescriptions or receive a transferred prescription to or from another pharmacy.

(c) No controlled substance in schedule III, IV, or V may be dispensed without a written or oral prescription of a practitioner, except when a controlled substance is dispensed directly by a practitioner, other than a pharmacist, to an ultimate user. The practitioner, in dispensing a controlled substance in schedule III, IV, or V, shall affix to the package a label showing:

(1) The date of dispensing;

(2) The name, strength, and quantity issued of the drug;

(3) The dispensing practitioner's name and business address;

(4) The name of the patient;

(5) The date the potency of the drug expires, if that date is available from the manufacturer or the principal labeler;

(6) Directions for use; and

(7) Cautionary statements, if any, contained in the prescription or as required by law.

A complete and accurate record of all schedule III, IV, and V controlled substances administered, prescribed, and dispensed shall be maintained for five years. Prescriptions and records of dispensing shall be retained in conformance with the requirements of section 329-36 unless otherwise provided by law. Prescriptions may not be filled or refilled more than three months after the date of the prescription or be refilled more than two times after the date of the prescription, unless the prescription is renewed by the practitioner.

(d) The effectiveness of a prescription for the purposes of this section shall be determined as follows:

(1) A prescription for a controlled substance shall be issued for a legitimate medical purpose by an individual practitioner acting in the usual course of the practitioner's professional practice. The responsibility for the proper prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances shall be upon the prescribing practitioner, but a corresponding responsibility shall rest with the pharmacist who fills the prescription. An order purporting to be a prescription issued not in the usual course of professional treatment or for legitimate and authorized research shall not be deemed a prescription within the meaning and intent of this section, and the person who knowingly fills such a purported prescription, as well as the person who issues the prescription, shall be subject to the penalties provided for violations of this chapter;

(2) A prescription may not be issued to allow an individual practitioner to obtain controlled substances for supplying the individual practitioner for the purpose of general dispensing to patients;

(3) A prescription may not be issued for the dispensing of narcotic drugs listed in any schedule for the purpose of "detoxification treatment" or "maintenance treatment". Nothing in this section shall prohibit a physician or authorized hospital staff from administering or dispensing narcotic drugs in a hospital to maintain or detoxify a person as an incidental adjunct to medical or surgical treatment of conditions other than addiction; and

(4) An individual practitioner may not prescribe or dispense a substance included in schedule II, III, IV, or V for that individual practitioner's personal use, except in a medical emergency.

(e) Prescriptions for controlled substances shall be issued only as follows:

(1) All prescriptions for controlled substances shall be dated as of, and signed on, the day when the prescriptions were issued and shall bear:

(A) The full name and address of the patient; and

(B) The name, address, telephone number, and registration number of the practitioner.

The controlled substance prescriptions shall be no larger than four and one-half inches by six and one-half inches and no smaller than four inches by five inches.

A practitioner may sign a prescription in the same manner as the practitioner would sign a check or legal document (e.g., J.H. Smith or John H. Smith) and shall use both words and figures (e.g., alphabetically and numerically as indications of quantity, such as five (5)), to indicate the amount of controlled substance to be dispensed. Where an oral order is not permitted, prescriptions shall be written with ink or indelible pencil or by typewriter and shall be manually signed by the practitioner. The prescriptions may be prepared by a secretary or agent for the signature of the practitioner, but the prescribing practitioner shall be responsible in case the prescription does not conform in all essential respects to this chapter and any rules adopted pursuant to this chapter. A corresponding liability shall rest upon a pharmacist who fills a prescription not prepared in the form prescribed by this section;

(2) An intern, resident, or foreign-trained physician, or a physician on the staff of a Department of Veterans Affairs facility or other facility serving veterans, exempted from registration under this chapter, shall include on all prescriptions issued by the physician:

(A) The registration number of the hospital or other institution; and

(B) The special internal code number assigned to the physician by the hospital or other institution in lieu of the registration number of the practitioner required by this section.

The hospital or other institution shall forward a copy of this special internal code number list to the department as often as necessary to update the department with any additions or deletions. Failure to comply with this paragraph shall result in the suspension of that facility's privilege to fill controlled substance prescriptions at pharmacies outside of the hospital or other institution. Each written prescription shall have the name of the physician stamped, typed, or handprinted on it, as well as the signature of the physician;

(3) An official exempted from registration shall include on all prescriptions issued by the official:

(A) The official's branch of service or agency (e.g., "U.S. Army" or "Public Health Service"); and

(B) The official's service identification number, in lieu of the registration number of the practitioner required by this section. The service identification number for a Public Health Service employee shall be the employee's social security identification number.

Each prescription shall have the name of the officer stamped, typed, or handprinted on it, as well as the signature of the officer; and

(4) A physician assistant registered to prescribe controlled substances under the authorization of a supervising physician shall include on all prescriptions issued:

(A) The DEA registration number of the supervising physician; and

(B) The special code number assigned to the physician assistant by the department.

Each written prescription issued shall include the printed, stamped, typed, or hand-printed name, address, and phone number of both the supervising physician and physician assistant, and shall be signed by the physician assistant. The medical record of each written prescription issued by a physician assistant shall be reviewed and initialed by the physician assistant's supervising physician within seven working days.

(f) A prescription for controlled substances may only be filled by a pharmacist acting in the usual course of the pharmacist's professional practice and either registered individually or employed in a registered pharmacy or registered institutional practitioner.

(g) Partial filling of controlled substance prescriptions shall be determined as follows:

(1) The partial filling of a prescription for a controlled substance listed in schedule II is permissible if the pharmacist is unable to supply the full quantity called for in a written or emergency oral prescription and the pharmacist makes a notation of the quantity supplied on the face of the written prescription (or written record of the emergency oral prescription). The remaining portion of the prescription may be filled within seventy-two hours of the first partial filling; provided that if the remaining portion is not or cannot be filled within the seventy-two-hour period, the pharmacist shall notify the prescribing individual practitioner. No further quantity shall be supplied beyond seventy-two hours without a new prescription; and

(2) The partial filling of a prescription for a controlled substance listed in schedule III, IV, or V is permissible; provided that:

(A) Each partial filling is recorded in the same manner as a refilling;

(B) The total quantity dispensed in all partial fillings does not exceed the total quantity prescribed;

(D) The prescription is refilled no more than two times after the initial date of the prescription, unless the prescription is renewed by the practitioner. [L 1972, c 10, pt of §1; am L 1973, c 206, §1; am L 1979, c 194, §5; am L 1984, c 25, §2; am L 1986, c 214, §6; am L 1988, c 59, §4; am L 1991, c 159, §§10 to 12; am L 1996, c 206, §2; am L 1997, c 280, §3; am L 1999, c 90, §2 and c 252, §4]