Today's Veterinary Practice

MAY-JUN 2013

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

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The Back Page: VeTerinary ViewPoinTs Joining Forces Against the Controlled Substances Act AN INTERVIEW WITH ASHLEY MORGAN The American Veterinary Medical Association has an important tab on their website— the Advocacy tab, which leads visitors to the Congressional Action Network. This key tool: • Tracks legislation affecting the veterinary profession • Provides summaries of key bills • Shares how legislators are voting • Advises veterinary professionals on how to make a difference. Currently, the most critical legislative issue the profession faces is the recent enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Ashley Morgan, DVM—the Assistant Director of the AVMA's Governmental Relations Division—shares pertinent details about this Act and how the veterinary industry is responding. Learn more about Dr. Morgan at todaysveterinarypractice.com. Can you tell us about the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)? Why is it an issue now, considering its existence since 1970? The CSA prevents veterinarians from transporting or using controlled substances outside their registered places of business. AVMA has been engaged in discussions with the DEA for years, trying to address this issue of veterinarians transporting controlled substances, both within their state of residence and across state borders. This became a higher priority last spring when veterinarians in California received messages from their local DEA field offices asking for clarification regarding their principal place of business and reminding registrants that it was illegal to transport controlled substances outside their registered locations. A similar situation happened in Washington last May and, just last month, a veterinarian in Hawaii received a similar clarification request. Who is affected by the CSA? Are certain veterinarians affected more severely than others? The CSA applies to all DEA registrants who want to manufacture, distribute, or dispense controlled substances. Any veterinarian that needs to provide care for animals outside of a brick-and-mortar facility, which is registered with the DEA, is impacted. This provision impacts veterinarians practicing in numerous capacities—particularly those working with horses, livestock, and wildlife and those offering house call and community services for companion animals. The Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act of 2013 amends the CSA. How does this Act protect veterinary professionals? H.R. 1528 exempts veterinary DEA registrants from being required to have a separate registration in order to transport and dispense controlled substances in the usual course of practice at a site other than their principal place of business. The site where controlled substances are dispensed must be located in a state where the veterinarian is licensed to practice, and registrants are required to meet all recordkeeping and security requirements, along with applicable state laws. What are the most effective measures the veterinary community can take to support this new Act? Anyone, including nonveterinarians, can support this legislation by contacting his or her Congressional members, and ask their friends and colleagues to do the same. • Information about this legislation is available at: avma.org/Advocacy/National/Congress/Pages/ PharmaceuticalIssues.aspx • Contact information for Congressional members and a sample letter are available at: avmacan.avma.org/avma/ issues/alert/?alertid=62592206 How can interested individuals stay on top of the latest legislative news from AVMA? The AVMA's Congressional Advocacy Network is a great way for people to remain informed on federal legislative activities. This network is open to everyone and is an excellent resource for information. Sign up at avmacan.avma. org/avma/home. n On May 15, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced a new Senate bill (S. 950)—a companion to the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act of 2013 (H.R. 1528), which U.S. Representatives Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon) and Ted Yoho (R-Florida), both veterinarians, introduced in the U.S. House on April 12. 82 Today's Veterinary Practice May/June 2013

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