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SS/SB 690 - Under this act, the Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, if a licensed physician, or a licensed physician on behalf of the Director, may issue a statewide standing order for an addiction mitigation medication, defined as naltrexone hydrochloride administered in a manner approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any accepted medical practice method of administering. Any licensed pharmacist may sell and dispense an addiction mitigation medication under a physician protocol or a statewide standing order. A pharmacist who, acting in good faith and with reasonable care, sells or dispenses the addiction mitigation medication and an appropriate device to administer the drug, and the protocol physician, shall not be subject to any criminal or civil liability or professional disciplinary action for prescribing or dispensing the medication and any outcome resulting from the administration of the medication. A physician issuing the statewide standing order shall likewise face no liability or professional discipline relating to the order or administration of the medication. It shall be permissible for any person to possess an addiction mitigation medication. This provision is identical to SB 1037 (2022). Under this act, any entity registered with the Department of Health and Senior Services that possesses, distributes, or delivers hypodermic needles or syringes for the purposes of operating a syringe exchange program or otherwise mitigating health risks associated with unsterile injection drug use shall be exempt from the offense of unlawful distribution, delivery or sale of drug paraphernalia, if such entity is not located within a quarter-mile of a school building, as well as the offense of unlawful manufacturing with intent to deliver drug paraphernalia. This act is substantially similar to provisions in CCS#2/HCS/SS/SB 64 (2021), HB 1486 (2020), SB 668 (2020), HCS/SS/SB 580 (2020), and HCS/HB 168 (2019) and similar to SCS/HB 1620 (2019). SARAH HASKINS
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