South Carolina Code 44-53-480. Enforcement
As part of its duties the Department of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs shall:
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-53-480
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Commission: means the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
- Controlled substance: means a drug, substance, or immediate precursor in Schedules I through V in Sections 44-53-190, 44-53-210, 44-53-230, 44-53-250, and 44-53-270. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
- Department: means the State Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
- Director: means the Director of the Department of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs under the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
- Drug: means a substance:
(a) recognized in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them;
(b) intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man and animals;
(c) other than food intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man and animals; and
(d) intended for use as a component of any substance specified in subitem (a), (b), or (c) of this paragraph but does not include devices or their components, parts, or accessories. See South Carolina Code 44-53-110
(1) Assist the Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the exchange of information between itself and governmental and local law-enforcement officials concerning illicit traffic in and use and abuse of controlled substances.
(2) Assist the commission in planning and coordinating training programs on law enforcement for controlled substances at the local and state level.
(3) Establish a centralized unit which shall accept, catalogue, file and collect statistics and make such information available for federal, state and local law enforcement purposes.
(4) Have the authority to execute and serve search warrants, arrest warrants, administrative inspection warrants, subpoenas, and summonses.
(b) The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall be primarily responsible for making accountability audits of the supply and inventory of controlled substances in the possession of pharmacists, doctors, hospitals, health care facilities and other practitioners as well as in the possession of any individuals or institutions authorized to have possession of such substances and shall also be primarily responsible for such other duties in respect to controlled substances as shall be specifically delegated to the Department of Health and Environmental Control by the General Assembly. Drug inspectors and special agents of the Department of Health and Environmental Control as provided for in § 44-53-490, while in the performance of their duties as prescribed herein, shall have:
(1) statewide police powers;
(2) authority to carry firearms;
(3) authority to execute and serve search warrants, arrest warrants, administrative inspection warrants, subpoenas, and summonses;
(4) authority to make investigations to determine whether there has been unlawful dispensing of controlled substances or the removal of such substances from regulated establishments or practitioners into illicit traffic;
(5) authority to seize property; and
(6) authority to make arrests without warrants for offenses committed in their presence.