Connecticut General Statutes/Title 21a/Chapter 417/Section 21a-65

CGS § 21a-65. (Formerly Sec. 19-209a). Sale of hypodermic needles and syringes restricted. Application to use secured machine. Destruction of used hypodermic needles and syringes. Penalty.

(a) A licensed manufacturer or licensed wholesaler may sell hypodermic needles and syringes only to the following: (1) To a licensed manufacturer, licensed wholesaler or licensed pharmacy; (2) to an advanced practice registered nurse, dentist, embalmer, optometrist, physician, physician assistant, podiatrist, scientific investigator or veterinarian licensed to practice in this state; (3) to a person in charge of a care-giving institution, as defined in section 20-571, incorporated college or scientific institution, but only for use by or in such care-giving institution, college or institution for medical or scientific purposes; (4) to a person in charge of a licensed or registered laboratory, but only for use in that laboratory for scientific and medical purposes; (5) to a farmer but only for use on the farmer's own animals or poultry; (6) to a business authorized in accordance with the regulations adopted under section 21a-66 to purchase hypodermic needles and syringes but only for legitimate industrial or medical use within that business; and (7) to a syringe services program established pursuant to section 19a-124.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (a) of this section, no licensed manufacturer, licensed wholesaler or licensed pharmacist shall sell and no person shall buy a hypodermic needle or syringe except upon a prescription of a prescribing practitioner, as defined in section 20-571, in a quantity greater than ten. Any such prescription shall be retained on file by the seller for a period of not less than three years and shall be accessible to any public officer engaged in the enforcement of this section. Such a prescription shall be valid for one year from the date thereof and purchases and sales may be made thereunder during such period, provided the seller shall confirm the continued need for such sales with such practitioner at least every six months if sales continue to be made thereunder. Hypodermic needles and syringes in a quantity of ten or less without a prescription may be provided or sold at retail only by the following: (1) By a pharmacy licensed in accordance with section 20-594 and in such pharmacy only by a licensed pharmacist or under the pharmacist's direct supervision; (2) by a syringe service program established pursuant to section 19a-124; and (3) by a health care facility or a licensed health care practitioner for use by their own patients.

(c) A registered syringe service program established pursuant to section 19a-124 may apply to the Department of Consumer Protection for approval to provide access to not more than ten hypodermic needles and syringes per transaction to program participants authorized by said department, through a secured machine with the use of a patient-specific access number, personalized magnetic strip card or any technology that identifies an individual for the purpose of providing access to hypodermic needles and syringes. The secured machine shall prevent unauthorized access and be immobile. Any products provided by the secured machine shall provide information on access to treatment services to assist individuals obtaining products from the secured machine. The machine shall only be placed in an area where contents can be stored in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendation, unless the secured machine can provide adequate environmental controls independent of the external environment. A locked syringe disposal container to accept hypodermic needles and syringes that have already been used shall be available as part of the secured machine or in the area around the secured machine. Only authorized personnel of such program may collect the used syringes for proper disposal.

(d) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, at all locations where hypodermic needles and syringes are kept they shall be stored in a manner so as to be available only to authorized personnel and not be openly available to customers or patients. All used, disposable hypodermic needles and used, disposable syringes shall be destroyed. Destruction shall be conducted in a manner which renders such needles and syringes nonrecoverable. Used needles and syringes which have been discarded and are awaiting destruction shall be securely safeguarded or rendered nonreusable.

(e) Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than one year or both.

Short History

(1971, P.A. 489, S. 1–3; P.A. 79-457, S. 2, 4; P.A. 83-115; P.A. 90-214, S. 1, 5; P.A. 92-185, S. 1, 6; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-11, S. 65, 70; P.A. 95-264, S. 53; P.A. 99-102, S. 31; P.A. 17-6, S. 5; July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-4, S. 6; P.A. 21-192, S. 3; P.A. 23-19, S. 9; P.A. 24-80, S. 1.)

Long History

History: P.A. 79-457 referred to “licensed” manufacturers and wholesalers, replaced “physician licensed to practice medicine and surgery” with “practitioner, as defined in section 20-184a” and “pharmacist” with “pharmacy”, allowed sales to osteopaths, scientific investigators and those in charge of “care-giving institutions” as defined in Sec. 19-504a (formerly “hospitals”), added Subdiv. (6) allowing sales to businesses authorized to purchase needles and syringes “only for legitimate industrial or medical use within that business”, required confirmation of continued need for sales every six, rather than three, months in Subsec. (b) and added new Subsec. (c) re storage and disposal, redesignating former Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (d); Sec. 19-66a transferred to Sec. 19-209a in 1981; Sec. 19-209a transferred to Sec. 21a-65 in 1983; P.A. 83-115 required destruction of used syringes and needles, required that destruction render them nonrecoverable and required that they be safeguarded or rendered nonreusable while awaiting destruction, replacing provision which required only that they “not be disposed of until they have been rendered nonreusable”; P.A. 90-214 added Subdiv. (7) in Subsec. (a) re needle and syringe exchange program; P.A. 92-185 amended Subsec. (a) to delete provision re sale “without the prescription of a practitioner as defined in section 20-184a”, amended Subsec. (b) to limit the requirement of a prescription to the sale and purchase of hypodermic needles or syringes “in a quantity greater than eight” and to add provision that hypodermic needles and syringes in a quantity of eight or less may be provided or sold at retail without a prescription only by a licensed pharmacy, a needle exchange program and a health care facility or licensed health care practitioner, amended Subsec. (c) to require that hypodermic needles and syringes be stored in a manner “so as to be available only to authorized personnel and not be openly available to customers or patients” rather than “to prevent theft or diversion from their lawful use” and to delete provision that the purpose of requiring used needles and syringes awaiting destruction to be safeguarded or rendered nonreusable is “to prevent their theft”, and amended Subsec. (d) to delete from the applicability of the penalty “any person who forges or alters a prescription for the purpose of purchasing a hypodermic needle or syringe in violation of the provisions of this section”; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-11 amended Subsec. (b) to increase the quantity of needles or syringes that requires a prescription from “greater than eight” to “greater than ten” and to increase from “eight or less” to “ten or less” the quantity of needles or syringes which may be provided or sold at retail without a prescription by specified entities; P.A. 95-264 made technical changes (Revisor's note: The reference in Subsec. (b) to “prescribing practitioner, as defined in subdivision (21) of ...” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “prescribing practitioner, as defined in subdivision (22) of ...”); P.A. 99-102 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting an obsolete reference to osteopathy and making technical changes; P.A. 17-6 amended Subsec. (a)(7) by replacing “needle and syringe exchange program” with “syringe services program”, and amended Subsec. (b)(2) by replacing “needle exchange program” with “syringe services program”; July Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-4 amended Subsec. (b) by substituting reference to Sec. 20-571(24) for reference to Sec. 20-571(22), effective January 1, 2021; P.A. 21-192 amended Subsec. (a) by changing reference from Sec. 20-571(2) to Sec. 20-571(3), amended Subsec. (b) by changing reference from Sec. 20-571(24) to Sec. 20-571(28) and making technical changes, added new Subsec. (c) re application by registered syringe service program to use secured machine for access and provisions re disposal, redesignated existing Subsecs. (c) and (d) as Subsecs. (d) and (e) and amended redesignated Subsec. (d) to add “Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, at”, effective July 13, 2021; P.A. 23-19 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a)(3) and (b), effective July 1, 2023; P.A. 24-80 amended Subsec. (a)(2) by adding references to advanced practice registered nurses, optometrists and physician assistants and making technical and conforming changes, effective May 30, 2024.

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