The provisions of this chapter restricting the possession and having control of controlled drugs shall not apply to:
I. Common carriers or to warehousemen while engaged in lawfully transporting or storing such drugs, or to an employee of the same acting within the scope of his employment; or to public officers or their employees in the performance of their official duties requiring possession or control of controlled drugs; or to temporary incidental possession by employees or agents or persons lawfully entitled to possession, or by persons whose possession is for the purpose of aiding public officers in performing their official duties.
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Terms Used In New Hampshire Revised Statutes 318-B:15

  • Administer: means an act whereby a single dose of a drug is instilled into the body of or given to a person or animal for immediate consumption or use. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 318-B:1
  • Controlled drugs: means any drug or substance, or immediate precursor, which is scheduled pursuant to N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 318-B:1
  • Dispense: means to distribute, leave with, give away, dispose of, deliver, or sell one or more doses of and shall include the transfer of more than a single dose of a medication from one container to another and the labelling or otherwise identifying a container holding more than a single dose of a drug. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 318-B:1
  • Person: means any corporation, association or partnership, or one or more individuals. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 318-B:1
  • Prescribe: means order or designate a remedy or any preparation containing controlled drugs. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 318-B:1
  • Prescription: means an oral, written, or facsimile or electronically transmitted order for any controlled drug or preparation issued by a licensed practitioner to be compounded and dispensed by a pharmacist and delivered to a patient for a medicinal or therapeutic purpose arising from a practitioner-patient relationship. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 318-B:1

II. Persons possessing prescription drugs dispensed to them pursuant to a lawful prescription or who are acting as an authorized agent for a person holding a lawful prescription. For purposes of this section, an authorized agent shall mean any person, including but not limited to a family member or caregiver, who has the intent to deliver the prescription drug to the person to whom the prescription drugs are lawfully prescribed. This exemption does not extend to persons possessing drugs with an intent to sell.
III. Law enforcement officers engaged in the collection, storage, and disposal of controlled drugs in conjunction with a pharmaceutical drug take-back program established under RSA 318-E.
IV. (a) A health care professional authorized to prescribe an opioid antagonist may prescribe, dispense, or distribute, directly or by standing order, an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose or a family member, friend, or other person in a position to assist a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose. Any such prescription shall be regarded as being issued for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of professional practice.
(b) A person or organization may, if acting pursuant to the provisions of subparagraph (a), store and possess an opioid antagonist, dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist, and administer an opioid antagonist to another person who the person believes is suffering an opioid-related overdose.
(c) No health care professional who, acting in good faith and with reasonable care, prescribes, dispenses, or distributes an opioid antagonist directly or by standing order and no person who, acting in good faith and with reasonable care, stores, dispenses, or distributes an opioid antagonist or administers an opioid antagonist to another person who the person believes is suffering an opioid-related drug overdose shall be subject to any criminal or civil liability, or any professional disciplinary action, for any action authorized by this paragraph or any outcome resulting from an action authorized by this paragraph.
(d) In this paragraph:
(1) “Opioid antagonist” means any drug that binds to opioid receptors and blocks or disinhibits the effects of opioids acting on those receptors.
(2) “Opioid-related drug overdose” means a condition including, but not limited to, extreme physical illness, decreased level of consciousness, respiratory depression, coma, or death resulting from the consumption or use of an opioid, or another substance with which an opioid was combined, or that a layperson would reasonably believe to be an opioid-related drug overdose that requires medical assistance.