Sec. 4. (a) The Indiana board of pharmacy shall cooperate with federal and other state agencies in discharging the board's responsibilities concerning traffic in controlled substances and in suppressing the abuse of controlled substances. To this end, the board may do the following:

(1) Arrange for the exchange of information among governmental officials concerning the use and abuse of controlled substances.

(2) Coordinate and cooperate in training programs concerning controlled substance law enforcement at local, state, and federal levels.

(3) Cooperate with the Drug Enforcement Administration by establishing a centralized unit to accept, catalog, file, and collect statistics, including records of drug dependent persons and other controlled substance law offenders within Indiana, and make the information available for federal, state, and local law enforcement purposes. The board may not furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject whose identity cannot be obtained under subsection (c).

(4) Conduct programs of eradication aimed at destroying wild or illicit growth of plant species from which controlled substances may be extracted.

(b) Results, information, and evidence received from the Drug Enforcement Administration relating to the regulatory functions of this chapter, including the results of inspections conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, may be relied on and acted upon by the Indiana board of pharmacy in the exercise of the board's regulatory functions.

(c) A practitioner engaged in medical practice or research is not required or compelled to furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject to the Indiana board of pharmacy. A practitioner may not be compelled in any state or local civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceedings to furnish the name or identity of an individual that the practitioner is obligated to keep confidential.

[Pre-1993 Recodification Citation: 16-6-8.5-4.]

As added by P.L.2-1993, SEC.25.