Section 33-1-21 - Corrections department required to accept and redispense unused prescriptions; conditions of acceptance and redispensing. - New Mexico Statutes

33-1-21. Corrections department required to accept and redispense unused prescriptions; conditions of acceptance and redispensing.

A.     A pharmacy operated by the corrections department or under contract with the department shall accept for the purpose of redispensing a prescription drug that has been dispensed and has left the control of the pharmacist if the prescription drug is being returned by a corrections facility that has a registered professional nurse or a licensed practical nurse who is responsible for the security, handling and administration of prescription drugs within that corrections facility and if all of the following conditions are met:

(1)     the pharmacist is satisfied that the conditions under which the prescription drug has been delivered, stored and handled before and during its return were such as to prevent damage, deterioration or contamination that would adversely affect the identity, strength, quality, purity, stability, integrity or effectiveness of the prescription drug; 

(2)     the pharmacist is satisfied that the prescription drug did not leave the control of the registered professional nurse or licensed practical nurse responsible for the security, handling and administration of that prescription drug and that the prescription drug did not come into the physical possession of the individual for whom it was prescribed;

(3)     the pharmacist is satisfied that the labeling and packaging of the prescription drug are accurate, have not been altered, defaced or tampered with and include the identity, strength, expiration date and lot number of the prescription drug; and 

(4)     the prescription drug was dispensed in a unit-dose package or unit-of-issue package.

B.     A pharmacy operated by the corrections department or under contract with the department shall not accept for return prescription drugs as provided pursuant to this section until the pharmacist in charge develops a written set of protocols for accepting, returning to stock, repackaging, labeling and redispensing prescription drugs.  The written protocols shall be maintained on the premises of any pharmacy dispensing prescriptions for the department and shall be readily accessible to each pharmacist on duty. The written protocols shall include, at a minimum, each of the following:

(1)     methods for ensuring that damage, deterioration or contamination has not occurred during the delivery, handling, storage or return of the prescription drugs such that it would adversely affect the identity, strength, quality, purity, stability, integrity or effectiveness of the prescription drugs or otherwise render the drugs unfit for distribution;

(2)     methods for accepting, returning to stock, repackaging, labeling and redispensing the prescription drugs returned pursuant to this section; and

(3)     a uniform system of recording and tracking prescription drugs that are returned to stock, repackaged, labeled and redistributed pursuant to this section.

C.     If the condition of a prescription drug and its package meets the standards set forth in Subsection B of this section, a prescription drug shall be returned to stock and redistributed as follows:

(1)     a prescription drug that was originally dispensed in the manufacturer's unit-dose package or unit-of-issue package that is returned in that same package may be returned to stock, repackaged and redispensed as needed; and 

(2)     a prescription drug that is repackaged into a unit-dose package or a unit-of-issue package by the pharmacy, dispensed and returned to that pharmacy in that unit-dose package or unit-of-issue package may be returned to stock, but it shall not be repackaged.  A unit-dose package or unit-of-issue package prepared by the pharmacist and returned to stock shall only be redispensed in that same unit-dose package or unit-of-issue package and shall only be redispensed once.  A pharmacist shall not add unit-dose package drugs to a partially used unit-of-issue package.

D.     This section does not apply to any of the following:

(1)     a controlled substance; 

(2)     a prescription drug that is dispensed as part of a customized patient medication package;

(3)     a prescription drug that is not dispensed as a unit-dose package or a unit-of-issue package; or 

(4)     a prescription drug that is not properly labeled with the identity, strength, lot number and expiration date.

E.     As used in this section:

(1)     "customized patient medication package" means a package that is prepared by a pharmacist for a specific patient and that contains two or more prescribed solid oral dosage forms;

(2)     "repackaging" means the process by which the pharmacy prepares a prescription it accepts pursuant to this section in a unit-dose package, unit-of-issue package or customized patient medication package for immediate dispensing in accordance with a current prescription;

(3)     "corrections facility" means any facility or program controlled or operated by the state or any of its agencies or departments and supported wholly or in part by state funds for the correctional care of persons, including but not limited to: 

(a)     the "penitentiary of New Mexico", which consists of the penitentiary at Santa Fe and other places in the state designated by the secretary of corrections; and

(b)     the parole board to the extent delegated by the Parole Board Act [31-21-22 NMSA 1978];

(4)     "unit-dose package" means a package that contains a single-dose drug with the name, strength, control number and expiration date of that drug on the label; and 

(5)     "unit-of-issue package" means a package that provides multiple doses of the same drug, but each drug is individually separated and includes the name, lot number and expiration date of the drug.