TEXAS DRUG LAWS - Class Notes       
Original material copyright DShinder 1998

DRUGS: Introduction/Outline

DEFINITIONS: Health and Safety Code

HISTORY OF DRUG ENFORCEMENT

How Drugs Work

Drug Regulation

CHARACTERISTICS OF DRUG SMUGGLERS

Workplace Drug Crime Investigations

Commonly Abused Drugs

Drug Schedules

EXAM REVIEW QUESTIONS
based on TCLEOSE objectives

Drug Laws: Review Questions 1

Drug Laws: Review Questions 2


DRUGS: Introduction/Outline

 Part one – Pharmacology and Physiology

Part two – the Law

 PART ONE: the Pharmacology and Physiology

 Ø       What are drugs?

Purposes: cure/treatment / prevention / replacement of natural body chemical /

mood alteration / psychological (placebo effect etc)

Ø       Types of drugs

Common everyday use: nicotine (increasing legal & social restrictions)

Caffeine – power as stimulant, addiction, overdose (still one of most benign)

Alcohol: use / addiction / Prohibition efforts / DWI problem

Prescription drugs: legal use/overuse and misuse/illegal sales & use

“Slightly illegal”: marijuana – effects compared to alcohol

Illegal/illicit: hardcore street drugs – uppers and downers – speed, cocaine and crack, opium derivatives

“Designer” drugs

Our own bodies as drug factories

Ø       Classifications of drugs (medical / scientific vs. legal)

Ø       The FDA approval process

Ø       Prescriptions – regulation (and lack thereof), DEA role, physician’s viewpoint

Ø       How various drugs work – the physiological mechanism

Ø       Recognition:

How to identify drugs

How to identify symptoms of drug use

Using the PDR

Ø       “war stories” (professional experience and observations – the bad AND good effects of drugs, i.e. miracle cures, deaths or permanent brain damage from O.D., everything in between)

Ø       Review key points

 

PART TWO: the Law

Ø       History of drug laws in this country

Ø       Relationship of drug abuse to other crimes

Drug addiction as motive for property crimes

Influence of drugs as causative factor in violent crimes

Ø       The Texas Health and Safety Code

Ø       Penalty classifications / enhancements

Ø       Enforcement:

Local law enforcement role / state and national organizations / the DEA

The War on Drugs

Prevention and Education efforts

D.A.R.E. and other programs aimed at children

Ø       The economic impact of drug use / drug enforcement

Ø       The ever-changing nature of drug laws in response to societal changes

Ø       Officer safety considerations in dealing with drug users

 

DEFINITIONS: Health and Safety Code

 Sec. 481.002.  Definitions.

         In this chapter:

              (1) "Administer" means to directly apply a controlled substance by injection, inhalation,ingestion, or other means to the body of a patient or research subject by:

             (A) a practitioner or an agent of the practitioner in the presence of the practitioner; or

 

             (B) the patient or research subject at the direction and in the presence of a practitioner.

 

              (2) "Agent" means an authorized person who acts on behalf of or at the direction of a manufacturer, distributor, or dispenser.  The term does not include a common or contract carrier, public warehouseman, or employee of a carrier or warehouseman acting in the usual and lawful course of employment.

 

              (3) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of health or the commissioner's designee.

 

              (4) "Controlled premises" means:

             (A) a place where original or other records or documents required under this chapter are kept or are required to be kept; or

             (B) a place, including a factory, warehouse, other establishment, or conveyance, where a person registered under this chapter may lawfully hold, manufacture, distribute,dispense, administer, possess, or otherwise dispose of a controlled substance.

 

              (5) "Controlled substance" means a substance, including a drug and an immediate precursor, listed in Schedules I through V or Penalty Groups 1 through 4.

 

              (6) "Controlled substance analogue" means:

             (A) a substance with a chemical structure substantially similar to the chemical structure of a controlled substance in Schedule I or II or Penalty Group 1 or 2; or

             (B) a substance specifically designed to produce an effect substantially similar to, or greater than, the effect of a controlled substance in Schedule I or II or Penalty Group 1 or 2.

 

              (7) "Counterfeit substance" means a controlled substance that, without authorization,

         bears or is in a container or has a label that bears an actual or simulated trademark, trade name,

         or other identifying mark, imprint, number, or device of a manufacturer, distributor, or

         dispenser other than the person who in fact manufactured, distributed, or dispensed the

         substance.

 

              (8) "Deliver" means to transfer, actually or constructively, to another a controlled

         substance, counterfeit substance, or drug paraphernalia, regardless of whether there is an

         agency relationship.  The term includes offering to sell a controlled substance, counterfeit

         substance, or drug paraphernalia.

 

              (9) "Delivery" or "drug transaction" means the act of delivering.

 

              (10) "Designated agent" means an individual designated under Section 481.073 to

         communicate a practitioner's instructions to a pharmacist.

 

              (11) "Director" means the director of the Department of Public Safety or an employee of

         the department designated by the director.

 

              (12) "Dispense" means the delivery of a controlled substance in the course of professional

         practice or research, by a practitioner or person acting under the lawful order of a practitioner,

         to an ultimate user or research subject.  The term includes the prescribing, administering,

         packaging, labeling, or compounding necessary to prepare the substance for delivery.

 

              (13) "Dispenser" means a practitioner, institutional practitioner, pharmacist, or pharmacy

         that dispenses a controlled substance.

 

              (14) "Distribute" means to deliver a controlled substance other than by administering or

         dispensing the substance.

 

              (15) "Distributor" means a person who distributes.

 

              (16) "Drug" means a substance, other than a device or a component, part, or accessory of

         a device, that is:

             (A) recognized as a drug in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official

         Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, official National Formulary, or a

         supplement to either pharmacopoeia or the formulary;

             (B) intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of

         disease in man or animals;

             (C) intended to affect the structure or function of the body of man or animals but is

         not food; or

             (D) intended for use as a component of a substance described by Paragraph (A),

         (B), or (C).

 

              (17) "Drug paraphernalia" means equipment, a product, or material that is used or

         intended for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing,

         compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging,

         repackaging, storing, containing, or concealing a controlled substance in violation of this

         chapter or in injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a

         controlled substance in violation of this chapter.  The term includes:

             (A) a kit used or intended for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, or

         harvesting a species of plant that is a controlled substance or from which a controlled

         substance may be derived;

             (B) a material, compound, mixture, preparation, or kit used or intended for use in

         manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, or preparing a

         controlled substance;

             (C) an isomerization device used or intended for use in increasing the potency of a

         species of plant that is a controlled substance;

             (D) testing equipment used or intended for use in identifying or in analyzing the

         strength, effectiveness, or purity of a controlled substance;

             (E) a scale or balance used or intended for use in weighing or measuring a

         controlled substance;

             (F) a dilutant or adulterant, such as quinine hydrochloride, mannitol, mannite,

         dextrose, or lactose, used or intended for use in cutting a controlled substance;

             (G) a separation gin or sifter used or intended for use in removing twigs and seeds

         from or in otherwise cleaning or refining marihuana;

             (H) a blender, bowl, container, spoon, or mixing device used or intended for use in

         compounding a controlled substance;

             (I) a capsule, balloon, envelope, or other container used or intended for use in

         packaging small quantities of a controlled substance;

             (J) a container or other object used or intended for use in storing or concealing a

         controlled substance;

             (K) a hypodermic syringe, needle, or other object used or intended for use in

         parenterally injecting a controlled substance into the human body; and

             (L) an object used or intended for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise

         introducing marihuana, cocaine, hashish, or hashish oil into the human body, including:

         (i) a metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic pipe

with or without a screen, permanent screen, hashish head, or punctured metal bowl;

         (ii) a water pipe;

         (iii) a carburetion tube or device;

         (iv) a smoking or carburetion mask;

         (v) a chamber pipe;

         (vi) a carburetor pipe;

         (vii) an electric pipe;

         (viii) an air-driven pipe;

         (ix) a chillum;

         (x) a bong; or

         (xi) an ice pipe or chiller.

 

              (18) "Federal Controlled Substances Act" means the Federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse

         Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (21 U.S.C. Section 801 et seq.) or its successor statute.

 

              (19) "Federal Drug Enforcement Administration" means the Drug Enforcement

         Administration of the United States Department of Justice or its successor agency.

 

              (20) "Hospital" means:

             (A) a general or special hospital as defined by Section 241.003 (Texas Hospital

         Licensing Law); or

             (B) an ambulatory surgical center licensed by the Texas Department of Health and

         approved by the federal government to perform surgery paid by Medicaid on patients

         admitted for a period of not more than 24 hours.

 

              (21) "Human consumption" means the injection, inhalation, ingestion, or application of a

         substance to or into a human body.

 

              (22) "Immediate precursor" means a substance the commissioner finds to be and by rule

         designates as being:

             (A) a principal compound commonly used or produced primarily for use in the

         manufacture of a controlled substance;

             (B) a substance that is an immediate chemical intermediary used or likely to be used

         in the manufacture of a controlled substance; and

             (C) a substance the control of which is necessary to prevent, curtail, or limit the

         manufacture of a controlled substance.

 

              (23) "Institutional practitioner" means an intern, resident physician, fellow, or person in an

         equivalent professional position who:

             (A) is not licensed by the appropriate state professional licensing board;

             (B) is enrolled in a bona fide professional training program in a base hospital or

         institutional training facility registered by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration; and

             (C) is authorized by the base hospital or institutional training facility to administer,

         dispense, or prescribe controlled substances.

 

              (24) "Lawful possession" means the possession of a controlled substance that has been

         obtained in accordance with state or federal law.

 

              (25) "Manufacture" means the production, preparation, propagation, compounding,

         conversion, or processing of a controlled substance other than marihuana, directly or indirectly

         by extraction from substances of natural origin, independently by means of chemical synthesis,

         or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis, and includes the packaging or

         repackaging of the substance or labeling or relabeling of its container.  However, the term does

         not include the preparation, compounding, packaging, or labeling of a controlled substance:

             (A) by a practitioner as an incident to the practitioner's administering or dispensing a

         controlled substance in the course of professional practice; or

             (B) by a practitioner, or by an authorized agent under the supervision of the

         practitioner, for or as an incident to research, teaching, or chemical analysis and not for

         delivery.

 

              (26) "Marihuana" means the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not, the seeds

         of that plant, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of

         that plant or its seeds.  The term does not include:

             (A) the resin extracted from a part of the plant or a compound, manufacture, salt,

         derivative, mixture, or preparation of the resin;

             (B) the mature stalks of the plant or fiber produced from the stalks;

             (C) oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant;

             (D) a compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the

         mature stalks, fiber, oil, or cake; or

             (E) the sterilized seeds of the plant that are incapable of germination.

 

              (27) "Medical purpose" means the use of a controlled substance for relieving or curing a

         mental or physical disease or infirmity.

 

              (28) "Medication order" means an order from a practitioner to dispense a drug to a patient

         in a hospital for immediate administration while the patient is in the hospital or for emergency

         use on the patient's release from the hospital.

 

              (29) "Narcotic drug" means any of the following, produced directly or indirectly by

         extraction from substances of vegetable origin, independently by means of chemical synthesis,

         or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:

             (A) opium and opiates, and a salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium or

         opiates;

             (B) a salt, compound, isomer, derivative, or preparation of a salt, compound,

         isomer, or derivative that is chemically equivalent or identical to a substance listed in

         Paragraph (A) other than the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium;

             (C) opium poppy and poppy straw; or

             (D) cocaine, including:

         (i) its salts, its optical, position, or geometric isomers, and the salts

of those isomers;

         (ii) coca leaves and a salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of

coca leaves; and

         (iii) a salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of a salt,

compound, or derivative that is chemically equivalent or identical to a substance described by

Subparagraph (i) or (ii), other than decocainized coca leaves or extractions of coca leaves that do

not contain cocaine or ecgonine.

 

              (30) "Opiate" means a substance that has an addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining

         liability similar to morphine or is capable of conversion into a drug having addiction-forming or

         addiction-sustaining liability.  The term includes its racemic and levorotatory forms.  The term

         does not include, unless specifically designated as controlled under Section 481.038, the

         dextrorotatory isomer of 3-methoxy-n-methylmorphinan and its salts (dextromethorphan).

  

           (31) "Opium poppy" means the plant of the species Papaver somniferum L., other than its

         seeds.

 

              (32) "Patient" means a human for whom or an animal for which a drug is administered,

         dispensed, delivered, or prescribed by a practitioner.

 

              (33) "Person" means an individual, corporation, government, business trust, estate, trust,

         partnership, association, or any other legal entity.

 

              (34) "Pharmacist" means a person licensed by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy to

         practice pharmacy and who acts as an agent for a pharmacy.

 

              (35) "Pharmacist-in-charge" means the pharmacist designated on a pharmacy license as the

         pharmacist who has the authority or responsibility for the pharmacy's compliance with this

         chapter and other laws relating to pharmacy.

 

              (36) "Pharmacy" means a facility licensed by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy where a

         prescription for a controlled substance is received or processed in accordance with state or

         federal law.

 

              (37) "Poppy straw" means all parts, other than the seeds, of the opium poppy, after

         mowing.

 

              (38) "Possession" means actual care, custody, control, or management.

              (39) "Practitioner" means:

             (A) a physician, dentist, veterinarian, podiatrist, scientific investigator, or other

         person licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, analyze,

         conduct research with respect to, or administer a controlled substance in the course of

         professional practice or research in this state;

             (B) a pharmacy, hospital, or other institution licensed, registered, or otherwise

         permitted to distribute, dispense, conduct research with respect to, or administer a

         controlled substance in the course of professional practice or research in this state; or

             (C) a person practicing in and licensed by another state as a physician, dentist,

         veterinarian, or podiatrist, having a current Federal Drug Enforcement Administration

         registration number, who may legally prescribe Schedule II, III, IV, or V controlled

         substances in that state.

 

              (40) "Prescribe" means the act of a practitioner to authorize a controlled substance to be

         dispensed to an ultimate user.

 

              (41) "Prescription" means an order by a practitioner to a pharmacist for a controlled

         substance for a particular patient that specifies:

             (A) the date of issue;

             (B) the name and address of the patient or, if the controlled substance is prescribed

         for an animal, the species of the animal and the name and address of its owner;

             (C) the name and quantity of the controlled substance prescribed with the quantity

         shown numerically followed by the number written as a word if the order is written or, if

         the order is communicated orally or telephonically, with the quantity given by the

         practitioner and transcribed by the pharmacist numerically;

             (D) directions for the use of the drug; and

 

Text of paragraph (E) as added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 351, Sec. 27

             (E) the legibly printed or stamped name, address, Federal Drug Enforcement

         Administration registration number, and telephone number of the practitioner at the

         practitioner's usual place of business.

 

Text of paragraph (E) as added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 789, Sec. 15

             (E) the intended use of the drug unless the practitioner determines the furnishing of

         this information is not in the best interest of the patient; and

             (F) the name, address, Federal Drug Enforcement Administration registration

         number, and telephone number of the practitioner at the practitioner's usual place of

         business, legibly printed or stamped.

 

              (42) "Principal place of business" means a location where a person manufactures,

         distributes, dispenses, analyzes, or possesses a controlled substance.  The term does not

         include a location where a practitioner dispenses a controlled substance on an outpatient basis

         unless the controlled substance is stored at that location.

 

              (43) "Production" includes the manufacturing, planting, cultivating, growing, or harvesting

         of a controlled substance.

 

              (44) "Raw material" means a compound, material, substance, or equipment used or

         intended for use, alone or in any combination, in manufacturing a controlled substance.

 

              (45) "Registrant" means a person who is registered under Section 481.063.

 

              (46) "Substitution" means the dispensing of a drug or a brand of drug other than that

         which is ordered or prescribed.

 

              (47) "Triplicate prescription form" means an official Department of Public Safety

         prescription form used to administer, dispense, prescribe, or deliver to an ultimate user a