CHAPTER 582

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 54-817, 54-417, 54-445, 54-481, and
54-487, as severally amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating respec-
tively to what constitutes unprofessional conduct for certain practi-
tioners of the healing arts, the powers of inspection possessed by the
Board of Pharmacy, the classes of institutions or persons to whom
dangerous drugs may be sold at wholesale, the exemption of physi-
cians, dentists and veterinarians from the provisions of the chapter
of the Code relating to pharmacists and drugs, and the definition of
certain terms used in the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act. rH 879]

Approved April 4, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 54-317 as amended, 54-417 as amended, 54-445 as amended,
54-481 as amended, and 54-487 as amended, of the Code of Virginia be
amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 54-317. Any practitioner of medicine, homeopathy, osteopathy,
chiropractic, naturopathy, chiropody (podiatry), physical therapy or clini-
cal psychology shall be considered guilty of unprofessional conduct if he:

(1) Undertakes or engages in any manner or by any means what-
soever to procure or perform or to aid or abet in procuring or performing
a criminal abortion; or
(2) Engages in the practice of any of the healing arts under a false
or assumed name, or impersonates another practitioner of a like, similar
or different name; or ;

(3) Prescribes or dispenses any morphine, cocaine, or other narcotic
with intent or knowledge that it shall or will be used otherwise
medicinally, or for accepted therapeutic purposes, or with intent to evade
any law with respect to the sale, use or disposition of such drug; or

(4) Issues or publishes in any way whatsoever advertising or other
matter in which grossly improbable or extravagant statements are made,
or which have a tendency to deceive or defraud the public or to impose
upon credulous ignorant persons; or

(5) Causes the publication or circulation or broadcasting of any
advertisement or statement in which he claims that he can cure or treat
diseases, ailments or infirmities by any secret method, procedure, treat-
ment or medicine, or in which he claims that a manifestly incurable dis-
ease or infirmity can be permanently cured; or

(6) Advertises or professes or holds himself out as being able and
willing to treat human ailments under a system or school of practice other
than jet for which he holds a certificate or license granted by the

oard; or

(7) Violates any of the provisions of § 54-278 or practices any branch
of the healing arts in violation of the provisions of this chapter; or

8) Being a practitioner of physical therapy, undertakes to practice
physical therapy, independently of the prescription or direction of a duly
licensed doctor of medicine, homeopathy or osteopathy; or

(9) Knowingly and willfully commits any act which is a felony under
the laws of this State or of the United States, or any act which is a mis-
demeanor under such laws and involves moral turpitude; or

(10) Aids or abets, has professional connection with, or lends his
name to any person known to him to be practicing illegally any of the
healing arts; or

(11) Conducts his practice in a manner contrary to the standards of
ethics of his branch of the healing arts or in such a manner as to make
nis practice a danger to the health and welfare of his patient or to the
public; or

(12) Being a practitioner who may lawfully dispense, administer, or
prescribe, medicines or drugs, and not being the holder of a certificate of
registration to practice pharmacy, engages in selling medicines, drugs, eye-
glasses, or medical appliances or devices to persons who are not his own
patients, or sells such articles to his own patients either for his own
convenience, or for the purpose of supplementing his income.

§ 54-417. The members of the Board and their duly authorized
agents shall have the power to inspect in a lawful manner the medicines
and drugs or drug products or domestic remedies which are manufactured,
packed, packaged, made, sold, offered for sale, exposed for sale, or kept
for sale, in the State, and for this purpose shall have the right to enter
and inspect during business hours any pharmacy, or any other place in
the State of Virginia where medicines or drugs or drug products or pro-
prietary medicines are manufactured, packed, packaged, made, sold,
offered for sale, exposed for sale, or kept for sale. The Board shall report
any evidence of violation of the provisions of this chapter by practitioners
of medicine, homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, chiropody
(podiatry), or physical therapy, to the Board of Medical Examiners for
action by it.

§ 54-445. No dangerous drug may be sold at wholesale except to
registered pharmacies or to * licensed practitioners lawfully practicing
their profession and licensed by law to prescribe or administer dangerous
drugs or medicine or to hospitals, sanitaria, departments of public health
(State and local) or to any welfare agency either public or private where
such purchasers buy drugs and medicines for the purposes of administra-
tion under the supervision of a licensed practitioner lawfully practicing
his profession. *

§ 54-481. This chapter shall not be construed to interfere with any
legally qualified practitioner of medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, chiropody
(podiatry), or veterinary medicine, who is not the proprietor of a store
for the dispensing or retailing of drugs, or who is not in the employ of
such a proprietor, in the compounding of his own prescriptions or the
purchase and possession of such drugs and medicines as he may require,
or to prevent him from administering or supplying to his patients such
medicines as he may deem proper, * or from making a charge for such
medicines as are not sold to his patients for his own convenience or for
the purpose of supplementing his income.

54-487. The following words and phrases, as used in this article,
shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Person” includes any corporation, association, partnership or
one or more individuals.

(2) “Physician” means a person authorized by law to practice medi-
cine in this State and any other person authorized by law to treat sick and
injured human beings in this State and to use narcotic drugs in connection
with such treatment.

(3) “Dentist” means a person authorized by law to practice dentistry
in this State.

(4) “Veterinarian” means a person authorized by law to practice
veterinary medicine in this State.

(5) “Manufacturer” means a person who by compounding, mixing,
cultivating, growing, or other process, produces or prepares narcotic drugs,
but does not include an apothecary who compounds narcotic drugs to be
sold or dispensed on prescriptions.

(6) “Wholesaler” means a person who supplies narcotic drugs that he
himself has not produced nor prepared, on official written orders, but not
on prescriptions.

(7) “Apothecary” means a licensed pharmacist as defined by the
laws of this State and, where the context so requires, the owner of a store
or other place of business where narcotic drugs are compounded or dis-
pensed by a licensed pharmacist; but nothing in this article shall be con-
strued as conferring on a person who is not registered nor licensed as a
pharmacist any authority, right or privilege, that is not granted to him
by the pharmacy laws of this State.

(8) “Hospital” means an institution for the care and treatment of
the sick and injured, approved by the State Board of Pharmacy as proper
to be entrusted with the custody of narcotic drugs, and the professional
use of narcotic drugs under the direction of a physician, dentist, or
veterinarian.

(9) “Laboratory” means a laboratory approved by the State Board of
Pharmacy as proper to be entrusted with the custody of narcotic drugs
and the use of narcotic drugs for scientific and medical purposes and for
purposes of instruction.

(10) “Sale” includes barter, exchange, or offer therefor, and each
Buch transaction made by any person, whether as principal, proprietor,
agent, servant, or employee.

(11) “Coca leaves” includes cocaine and any compound, manufacture,
salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of coca leaves, except derivatives
of coca leaves which do not contain cocaine, ecgonine, or substances from
which cocaine or ecgonine may be synthesized or made.

(12) “Opium” includes morphine, codeine, and heroin, and any com-
pound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of opium.
(13) “Isonipecaine’’ means the substance identified chemically as
1-methy]-4-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxylic acid ethyl ester; otherwise known
as demerol, or any salt thereof by whatever trade name identified.

(14) “Narcotic drugs’? means coca leaves and opium, cannabis and
isonipecaine and every substance not chemically distinguishable from them.

(15) “Federal narcotic laws” means the laws of the United States
relating to opium, coca leaves, and other narcotic drugs.

(16) “Official written order” means an order written on a form pro-
vided for that purpose by the United States Commissioner of Narcotics,
under any laws of the United States making provision therefor, if such
order forms are authorized and required by federal law, and if no such
order form is provided then on an official form provided for that purpose
by the State Board of Pharmacy.

(17) “Dispense” includes sell, distribute, leave with, give away, dis-
pose of, * deliver or supply.

(18) “Registry number’ means the number assigned to each person
registered under the federal narcotic laws.

(19) ‘“Cannahis” means and includes all parts of the plant Cannabis
Sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted
from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt,
derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or resin; but
shall not include the mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such
stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound,
manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of such mature
stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the
sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination.

(20) “Opiate” includes all synthetic drugs having addiction-forming
or addiction-sustaining properties similar to morphine and so proclaimed
by the President of the United States under the provisions of the Federal
Narcotic Law.