Every person required to prepare or obtain, and keep, records, and any carrier maintaining records with respect to any shipment containing any drug, and every person in charge or having custody of such records shall, upon request of an agent designated by the Board, permit such agent at reasonable times to have access to and copy such records.

Any agent designated by the Superintendent of the Department of State Police to conduct drug diversion investigations shall, for the purpose of such investigations, also be permitted access at reasonable times to all such records relevant to a specific investigation and be allowed to inspect and copy such records. However, agents designated by the Superintendent of the Department of State Police to conduct drug diversion investigations shall not copy and remove patient records unless such patient records are relevant to a specific investigation. Any agent designated by the Superintendent of the Department of State Police shall allow the person or carrier maintaining such records, or agent thereof, to examine any copies of records before their removal from the premises. If the agent designated by the Superintendent of State Police copies records on magnetic storage media, he will deliver a duplicate of the magnetic storage media on which the copies are stored to the person or carrier maintaining such records or an agent thereof, prior to removing the copies from the premises. If the original of any record is removed by any agent designated by the Superintendent of State Police, a receipt therefor shall be left with the person or carrier maintaining such records or an agent thereof, and a copy of the removed record shall be provided the person or carrier maintaining such records within a reasonable time thereafter.

For the purposes of verification of such records and of enforcement of this chapter, agents designated by the Board or by the Superintendent are authorized, upon presenting appropriate credentials to the owner, operator, or agent in charge, to enter, at reasonable times, any factory, warehouse, establishment, or vehicle in which any drug is held, manufactured, compounded, processed, sold, delivered, or otherwise disposed of; and to inspect, within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner, such factory, warehouse, establishment, or vehicle, and all pertinent equipment, finished and unfinished material, containers and labeling, including records, files, papers, processes, controls, and facilities, bearing on violation of this chapter; and to inventory and obtain samples of any stock of any drugs.

If a sample of any drug is obtained, the agent making the inspection shall, upon completion of the inspection and before leaving the premises, give to the owner, operator, or agent in charge a receipt describing the sample. No inspection shall extend to financial data, sales data other than shipment data, pricing data, personnel data or research data.

Any information obtained by a designated State Police agent during an inspection under this section which constitutes evidence of a violation of any provision of this chapter shall be reported to the Department of Health Professions upon its discovery.

Any information obtained by an agent designated by the Board during an inspection under this section which constitutes evidence of a violation of Article 1 (§ 18.2-247 et seq.) of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2 shall be reported to the Department of State Police upon its discovery.

1970, c. 650, § 54-524.57; 1988, cc. 266, 765; 1992, cc. 743, 808.