(a)  There are established five (5) schedules of controlled substances, to be known as schedules I, II, III, IV, and V.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 21-28-2.02

  • Apothecary: means a registered pharmacist as defined by the laws of this state and, where the context requires, the owner of a licensed pharmacy or other place of business where controlled substances are compounded or dispensed by a registered pharmacist; and includes registered assistant pharmacists as defined by existing law, but nothing in this chapter shall be construed as conferring on a person who is not registered as a pharmacist any authority, right, or privilege that is not granted to him or her by the pharmacy laws of the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 21-28-1.02
  • Director: means the director of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 21-28-1.02
  • Narcotic drug: means any of the following, whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:

    (i)  Opium and opiates. See Rhode Island General Laws 21-28-1.02

  • Ounce: means an avoirdupois ounce as applied to solids and semi-solids, and a fluid ounce as applied to liquids. See Rhode Island General Laws 21-28-1.02
  • Person: means any corporation, association, partnership, or one or more individuals. See Rhode Island General Laws 21-28-1.02
  • United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8

(b)  The schedules I, II, III, IV, and V shall, unless and until amended pursuant to this chapter, consist of: those enumerated in this article and include substances to be controlled by rule and/or regulation of the director of health as published, except all substances in schedules II, III, IV, and V will require a prescription to be dispensed by an apothecary in the state of Rhode Island; provided, that a prescription will not be required in the following cases: administering, dispensing, or selling at retail of any medicinal preparation that contains in one fluid ounce or if a solid or semi-solid preparation, in one avoirdupois ounce, not more than thirty and one-tenth (30.1) milligrams of opium. Notwithstanding the definition of the word opium contained in any other general or special law, the word opium for purposes of this section shall be as defined in the official United States pharmacopoeia. The prescription exemption authorized by this section shall be subject to the following conditions: (1) That the medicinal preparation administered, dispensed, or sold, shall contain, in addition to the narcotic drug in it, some drug or drugs conferring upon it medicinal qualities other than those possessed by the narcotic drug alone;

(2)  That the preparation shall be administered, dispensed, or sold in good faith as a medicine and not for the purpose of evading the provisions of this chapter, and provided the preparation shall be dispensed or sold only to a person who shall sign his or her name and address in a legible manner in a record book to be kept for that purpose by the seller.

History of Section.
P.L. 1974, ch. 183, § 2.