§2 - Note

 


P.L. 2019, CHAPTER 162, approved July 15, 2019

Assembly, No. 3292 (First Reprint)

 

 


An Act concerning prescription medications and amending P.L.1970, c.226.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    Section 17 of P.L.1970, c.226 (C.24:21-17) is amended to read as follows:

     17.  Form of label to be used by pharmacists; altering or removing label. Whenever a pharmacist sells or dispenses any controlled dangerous substance on a prescription issued by a practitioner, [he] the pharmacist shall affix to the container in which such drug is sold or dispensed, a label showing [his] the pharmacist’s own name, address, and registry number, or the name, address, and registry number of the pharmacist or pharmacy owner for whom [he] the pharmacist is lawfully acting; the name of the patient or, if the patient is an animal, the name of the owner of the animal and the species of the animal; the name of the practitioner by whom the prescription was issued; the brand name or generic name of the drug dispensed unless the prescriber states otherwise on the prescription, such directions as may be stated on the prescription and such directions as may be required by rules or regulations promulgated by the director.  In addition, whenever a pharmacist 1, other than a pharmacist dispensing medication in an institutional pharmacy, as that term is defined in N.J.A.C.13:39-9.2,1  dispenses an opioid medication on a prescription issued by a practitioner, the pharmacist shall affix to the container in which such opioid medication is sold or dispensed a warning 1label or1 sticker describing the risks associated with opioid medications.  The 1[director, in consultation with the Department of Health,] New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy1 shall specify by rule or regulation the location on the medication container where the warning 1label or1 sticker shall be affixed 1, the font and format of any language to be included on the warning label or sticker,1  and the specific language to be included on the warning 1label or1 sticker, which, at a minimum, shall indicate that the medication in the container is an opioid and that opioid medications carry a risk of addiction and overdose.  Unless otherwise provided by rules or regulations promulgated by the 1[director] New Jersey State Board of Pharmacy1 , the 1label or1 sticker shall be red in color with 1the1 text printed in 1[a white font large enough to be easily and clearly readable] black1 .

     No person shall alter, deface, or remove any label or sticker so affixed as long as any of the original contents remain.

(cf: P.L.2007, c.244, s.15)

 

     2.    This act shall take effect 1on1 the first day of the 1[fourth] seventh1 month next following the date of enactment.

 

 

                                

 

     Requires prescription opioid medications include warning sticker advising patients of risk of addiction and overdose.