§ 4216. Authorized possession by individuals

(a) A person to whom or for whose use any regulated drug has been prescribed, sold, or dispensed, and the owner of any animal for which any such drug has been prescribed, sold, or dispensed, may lawfully possess the same on the condition that such drug was prescribed, sold, or dispensed by a physician, dentist, pharmacist, or veterinarian licensed to practice in this State or under the laws of another state or country wherein such person has his or her practice, and further that all amounts of the drug are retained in the lawful container in which it was delivered to him or her by the person selling or dispensing the same.

(b) Notwithstanding the requirement in subsection (a) of this section that a regulated drug be retained in its original container, the individual to whom a regulated drug was prescribed, dispensed, or sold by a physician, dentist, or pharmacist licensed in Vermont or in another state or country may maintain up to a 14-day supply of the regulated drug outside the original container for his or her own personal use if the following conditions are met:

(1) the drug was prescribed for the individual;

(2) the individual is in possession of the original or a copy of the prescription label;

(3) at all times, the individual intends and has intended to use the drug only for legitimate medical use in conformity with instructions from the prescriber and dispenser; and

(4) the individual maintains the limited supply of the drug in a receptacle that reasonably constitutes a more convenient or portable format to enable the individual's legitimate medical use. (Added 1967, No. 343 (Adj. Sess.), § 16, eff. March 23, 1968; amended 2015, No. 141 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)