124.504 Cooperative arrangements and confidentiality.

1. The department and board, subject to approval and direction of the governor, shall cooperate with federal and other state agencies in discharging its responsibilities concerning traffic in controlled substances and in suppressing the abuse of controlled substances. To this end, they may jointly:

a. Arrange for the exchange of information between governmental officials concerning the use and abuse of controlled substances.

b. Coordinate and cooperate in training programs on controlled substance law enforcement at the local and state levels.

c. Cooperate with the bureau by establishing a centralized unit which will accept, catalogue, file, and collect statistics, including records of drug dependent persons and other controlled substance law offenders within the state, and make such information available for federal, state and local law enforcement purposes; except that they shall not furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject whose identity could not be obtained under subsection 3.

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

2. Results, information, and evidence received from the bureau relating to the regulatory functions of this chapter, including results of inspections conducted by that agency may be relied upon and acted upon by the board or the department in the exercise of their regulatory functions under this chapter.

3. A practitioner engaged in medical practice or research or the Iowa drug abuse authority or any program which is licensed by the authority shall not be required to furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject to the board or the department, nor shall the practitioner or the authority or any program which is licensed by the authority 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 or the authority or any of its licensed programs is obligated to keep confidential.

[C73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §204.504]

C93, §124.504