87R5465 MCF-D
By: Thierry H.B. No. 848
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to distinctive packaging for opioid drugs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the Red Cap Opioid
Safety Act.
SECTION 2. 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 or deliver an opioid not in the
distinctive packaging required by board rules adopted under Section
481.0761(l).
SECTION 3. 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 a
prescription for an opioid be dispensed in a bottle with a
distinctive red cap or, if the opioid is dispensed in a container
other than a bottle, in a container bearing a conspicuous red label.
SECTION 4. 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, 2022.
SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a prescription opioid dispensed on or after March 1, 2022. A
prescription dispensed before March 1, 2022, 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 6. 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, 2021.