| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to warning labels for opioid prescription drugs. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 481.074(a), Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) A pharmacist may not: |
|
|
(1) dispense or deliver a controlled substance or |
|
|
cause a controlled substance to be dispensed or delivered under the |
|
|
pharmacist's direction or supervision except under a valid |
|
|
prescription and in the course of professional practice; |
|
|
(2) dispense a controlled substance if the pharmacist |
|
|
knows or should have known that the prescription was issued without |
|
|
a valid patient-practitioner relationship; |
|
|
(3) fill a prescription that is not prepared or issued |
|
|
as prescribed by this chapter; |
|
|
(4) permit or allow a person who is not a licensed |
|
|
pharmacist or pharmacist intern to dispense, distribute, or in any |
|
|
other manner deliver a controlled substance even if under the |
|
|
supervision of a pharmacist, except that after the pharmacist or |
|
|
pharmacist intern has fulfilled his professional and legal |
|
|
responsibilities, a nonpharmacist may complete the actual cash or |
|
|
credit transaction and delivery; [or] |
|
|
(5) permit the delivery of a controlled substance to |
|
|
any person not known to the pharmacist, the pharmacist intern, or |
|
|
the person authorized by the pharmacist to deliver the controlled |
|
|
substance without first requiring identification of the person |
|
|
taking possession of the controlled substance, except as provided |
|
|
by Subsection (n); or |
|
|
(6) dispense an opioid unless the bottle or container |
|
|
in which the opioid is dispensed is affixed with a label warning of |
|
|
the addictive nature of opioids and the risks of respiratory |
|
|
depression and overdose as required by board rule under Section |
|
|
481.0761(l). |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 481.0761, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Subsection (l) to read as follows: |
|
|
(l) The board shall adopt rules requiring that an opioid be |
|
|
dispensed in a bottle or container affixed with a label warning |
|
|
users of the addictive nature of opioids and the risks of |
|
|
respiratory depression and overdose. The label must include |
|
|
language substantially similar to the following: |
|
|
"CAUTION: Opioid. Risk of Addiction, Respiratory Depression, |
|
|
and Overdose.". |
|
|
SECTION 3. The Texas State Board of Pharmacy shall adopt the |
|
|
rules required under Section 481.0761(l), Health and Safety Code, |
|
|
as added by this Act, not later than January 1, 2024. |
|
|
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
|
|
to a prescription for an opioid dispensed on or after March 1, 2024. |
|
|
A prescription dispensed before March 1, 2024, is governed by the |
|
|
law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and |
|
|
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |