AB 440

Under current law, controlled substances are divided into five separate

schedules, depending on the substance's potential for abuse, whether the substance

has a currently accepted and safe medical use, and whether and to what degree the

substance leads to physical or psychological dependence. Schedule II substances are

those that have a high potential for abuse and may lead to severe physical or

psychological dependence, but also have a currently accepted medical use.

Under current law, a drug that is a schedule II substance may be dispensed to

a person directly by a practitioner or by a pharmacy with a written prescription by

the practitioner or, in the case of an emergency, by a pharmacist who receives an oral

or electronic prescription by the practitioner that is promptly reduced to writing and

filed by the pharmacist.

Under this bill, a drug that is a schedule II substance may be dispensed by a

pharmacy with an electronic prescription by the practitioner in cases that are not

emergencies and without the requirement that the prescription be reduced to

writing.