(a)        Immediately prior to dispensing a Schedule II controlled substance, or any of the Schedule III controlled substances listed in subdivisions 1. through 8. of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-91(d), each pharmacy holding a valid permit pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-85.21 shall require the person seeking the dispensation to present one of the following valid, unexpired forms of government-issued photographic identification: (i) a drivers license, (ii) a special identification card issued under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-37.7, (iii) a military identification card, or (iv) a passport. Upon presentation of the required photographic identification, the pharmacy shall document the name of the person seeking the dispensation, the type of photographic identification presented by the person seeking the dispensation, and the photographic identification number. The pharmacy shall retain this identifying information on the premises or at a central location apart from the premises as part of its business records for a period of three years following dispensation.

(b)        The pharmacy shall make the identifying information available to any person authorized under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-113.74 to receive prescription information data in the controlled substances reporting system within 72 hours after a request for the identifying information. A pharmacy that submits the identifying information required under this section to the controlled substances reporting system established and maintained pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-113.73 is deemed in compliance with this subsection.

(c)        Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require that the person seeking the dispensation and the person to whom the prescription is issued be the same person, and nothing in this section shall apply to the dispensation of controlled substances to employees of “health care facilities”, as that term is defined in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 131E-256(b), when the controlled substances are delivered to the health care facilities for the benefit of residents or patients of such health care facilities. ?(2011-349, s. 1.)