2007 Minnesota Statutes

151.37 LEGEND DRUGS, WHO MAY PRESCRIBE, POSSESS.
    Subdivision 1. Prohibition. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, it shall be unlawful
for any person to have in possession, or to sell, give away, barter, exchange, or distribute a legend
drug.
    Subd. 2. Prescribing and filing. (a) A licensed practitioner in the course of professional
practice only, may prescribe, administer, and dispense a legend drug, and may cause the same
to be administered by a nurse, a physician assistant, or medical student or resident under the
practitioner's direction and supervision, and may cause a person who is an appropriately certified,
registered, or licensed health care professional to prescribe, dispense, and administer the same
within the expressed legal scope of the person's practice as defined in Minnesota Statutes.
A licensed practitioner may prescribe a legend drug, without reference to a specific patient,
by directing a nurse, pursuant to section 148.235, subdivisions 8 and 9, physician assistant, or
medical student or resident to adhere to a particular practice guideline or protocol when treating
patients whose condition falls within such guideline or protocol, and when such guideline
or protocol specifies the circumstances under which the legend drug is to be prescribed and
administered. An individual who verbally, electronically, or otherwise transmits a written, oral, or
electronic order, as an agent of a prescriber, shall not be deemed to have prescribed the legend
drug. This paragraph applies to a physician assistant only if the physician assistant meets the
requirements of section 147A.18.
    (b) A licensed practitioner that dispenses for profit a legend drug that is to be administered
orally, is ordinarily dispensed by a pharmacist, and is not a vaccine, must file with the practitioner's
licensing board a statement indicating that the practitioner dispenses legend drugs for profit, the
general circumstances under which the practitioner dispenses for profit, and the types of legend
drugs generally dispensed. It is unlawful to dispense legend drugs for profit after July 31, 1990,
unless the statement has been filed with the appropriate licensing board. For purposes of this
paragraph, "profit" means (1) any amount received by the practitioner in excess of the acquisition
cost of a legend drug for legend drugs that are purchased in prepackaged form, or (2) any amount
received by the practitioner in excess of the acquisition cost of a legend drug plus the cost of
making the drug available if the legend drug requires compounding, packaging, or other treatment.
The statement filed under this paragraph is public data under section 13.03. This paragraph does
not apply to a licensed doctor of veterinary medicine or a registered pharmacist. Any person other
than a licensed practitioner with the authority to prescribe, dispense, and administer a legend drug
under paragraph (a) shall not dispense for profit. To dispense for profit does not include dispensing
by a community health clinic when the profit from dispensing is used to meet operating expenses.
    (c) A prescription or drug order for a legend drug is not valid if it is based solely on an
online questionnaire, unless it can be established that the prescription or order was based on
a documented patient evaluation adequate to establish a diagnosis and identify underlying
conditions and contraindications to treatment.
    Subd. 2a. Delegation. A supervising physician may delegate to a physician assistant who
is registered with the Board of Medical Practice and certified by the National Commission on
Certification of Physician Assistants and who is under the supervising physician's supervision,
the authority to prescribe, dispense, and administer legend drugs and medical devices, subject to
the requirements in chapter 147A and other requirements established by the Board of Medical
Practice in rules.
    Subd. 3. Veterinarians. A licensed doctor of veterinary medicine, in the course of
professional practice only and not for use by a human being, may personally prescribe, administer,
and dispense a legend drug, and may cause the same to be administered or dispensed by an
assistant under the doctor's direction and supervision.
    Subd. 4. Research. Any qualified person may use legend drugs in the course of a bona fide
research project, but cannot administer or dispense such drugs to human beings unless such drugs
are prescribed, dispensed, and administered by a person lawfully authorized to do so.
    Subd. 5. Exclusion for course of practice. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the sale
to, or the possession of, a legend drug by licensed drug wholesalers, licensed manufacturers,
registered pharmacies, local detoxification centers, licensed hospitals, bona fide hospitals wherein
animals are treated, or licensed pharmacists and licensed practitioners while acting within the
course of their practice only.
    Subd. 6. Exclusion for course of employment. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the
possession of a legend drug by an employee, agent, or sales representative of a registered drug
manufacturer, or an employee or agent of a registered drug wholesaler, or registered pharmacy,
while acting in the course of employment.
    Subd. 7. Exclusion for prescriptions. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the possession
of a legend drug by a person for that person's use when it has been dispensed to the person in
accordance with a written or oral prescription by a practitioner.
    Subd. 8. Misrepresentation. It is unlawful for a person to procure, attempt to procure,
possess, or control a legend drug by any of the following means:
(1) deceit, misrepresentation, or subterfuge;
(2) using a false name; or
(3) falsely assuming the title of, or falsely representing a person to be a manufacturer,
wholesaler, pharmacist, practitioner, or other authorized person for the purpose of obtaining
a legend drug.
    Subd. 9. Exclusion for course of laboratory employment. Nothing in this chapter shall
prohibit the possession of a legend drug by an employee or agent of a registered analytical
laboratory while acting in the course of laboratory employment.
    Subd. 10. Purchase of drugs for communicable diseases. The commissioner of health,
in carrying out the duties of section 144.05, may purchase and distribute antituberculosis drugs,
biologics, and vaccines to treat and prevent communicable disease.
    Subd. 11. Complaint reporting. The Board of Pharmacy shall report on a quarterly basis to
the Board of Optometry any complaints received regarding the prescription or administration of
legend drugs under section 148.576.
History: 1969 c 933 s 18; 1973 c 639 s 9; 1974 c 369 s 1; 1976 c 222 s 93,94; 1976 c 338 s
6; 1986 c 444; 1988 c 440 s 2; 1988 c 550 s 19; 1990 c 489 s 1; 1990 c 524 s 2; 1991 c 30 s 11;
1991 c 106 s 6; 1993 c 121 s 11; 1994 c 389 s 4,5; 1995 c 69 s 2; 1995 c 205 art 2 s 6; 1996 c 305
art 1 s 43; 2002 c 362 s 4; 2003 c 62 s 7; 2007 c 103 s 3; 2007 c 147 art 12 s 7