Bill > S3515

Introduced Session

This bill requires retail pharmacies to stock at least one retail unit of an opioid antidote, such as naloxone hydrochloride or any other federally-approved drug intended for self-administration for the treatment of an opioid overdose, at all times. The bill defines "retail unit of an opioid antidote" to mean a package containing one unit of an opioid antidote that is intended for individual sale or dispensation directly to a patient. "Retail pharmacy" is defined as any place where drugs are dispensed and pharmaceutical services are provided by a licensed pharmacist, but does not include any pharmacy limits pharmaceutical care services to a defined and exclusive group of patients and that is not open for dispensing to the general patient population. A pharmacy that fails to maintain at least one retail unit of an opioid antidote will be issued a written warning by the Board of Pharmacy for a first offense, and will be subject to a civil penalty of $250 for a second or subsequent offense. Following receipt of a written warning from the board for a first offense, each day during which a violation continues will constitute a separate offense. However, it will constitute an affirmative defense to a violation of the requirements of the bill if the pharmacy demonstrates that: fewer than three days elapsed between the date of the violation and the date on which the pharmacy was last in compliance with the requirements of the bill; fewer than seven days elapsed between the date of the violation and the date on which the pharmacy was last in compliance, and the pharmacy had ordered an adequate replacement stock prior to the date of the violation; or the pharmacy was unable to comply because of a wholesaler shortage of retail units of opioid antidotes.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Patrick Diegnan (D)*,  Linda Greenstein (D)*,  Anthony Bucco (R),  Joe Lagana (D), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 03/04/2019)