CHAPTER 481. TEXAS CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT

SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 481.001.  SHORT TITLE.  This chapter may be cited as the Texas Controlled Substances Act.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.

• 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 public 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 or other item governed by this chapter, including a chemical precursor and a chemical laboratory apparatus.

  (5) “Controlled substance” means a substance, including a drug, an adulterant, and a dilutant, listed in Schedules I through V or Penalty Groups 1, 1-A, or 2 through 4. The term includes the aggregate weight of any mixture, solution, or other substance containing a controlled substance.

  (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, 1-A, 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, 1-A, 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, inositol, nicotinamide, dextrose, lactose, or absorbent, blotter-type material, that is used or intended to be used to increase the amount or weight of or to transfer a controlled substance regardless of whether the dilutant or adulterant diminishes the efficacy of the 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 director 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 beginning 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 Subchapter B, 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;
  • (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; or
  • (D) an advanced practice nurse or physician assistant to whom a physician has delegated the authority to carry out or sign prescription drug orders under Section 157.0511, 157.052, 157.053, 157.054, 157.0541, or 157.0542, Occupations Code.

  (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;
  • (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 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.

  (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) “Official prescription form” means a prescription form that contains the prescription information required by Section 481.075.

  (48) “Ultimate user” means a person who has lawfully obtained and possesses a controlled substance for the person’s own use, for the use of a member of the person’s household, or for administering to an animal owned by the person or by a member of the person’s household.

  (49) “Adulterant or dilutant” means any material that increases the bulk or quantity of a controlled substance, regardless of its effect on the chemical activity of the controlled substance.

  (50) “Abuse unit” means:

  • (A) except as provided by Paragraph (B):
    • (i) a single unit on or in any adulterant, dilutant, or similar carrier medium, including marked or perforated blotter paper, a tablet, gelatin wafer, sugar cube, or stamp, or other medium that contains any amount of a controlled substance listed in Penalty Group 1-A, if the unit is commonly used in abuse of that substance; or
    • (ii) each quarter-inch square section of paper, if the adulterant, dilutant, or carrier medium is paper not marked or perforated into individual abuse units; or
  • (B) if the controlled substance is in liquid form, 40 micrograms of the controlled substance including any adulterant or dilutant.

  (51) “Chemical precursor” means:

  • (A) Methylamine;
  • (B) Ethylamine;
  • (C) D-lysergic acid;
  • (D) Ergotamine tartrate;
  • (E) Diethyl malonate;
  • (F) Malonic acid;
  • (G) Ethyl malonate;
  • (H) Barbituric acid;
  • (I) Piperidine;
  • (J) N-acetylanthranilic acid;
  • (K) Pyrrolidine;
  • (L) Phenylacetic acid;
  • (M) Anthranilic acid;
  • (N) Ephedrine;
  • (O) Pseudoephedrine;
  • (P) Norpseudoephedrine; or
  • (Q) Phenylpropanolamine.

  (52) “Department” means the Department of Public Safety.

  (53) “Chemical laboratory apparatus” means any item of equipment designed, made, or adapted to manufacture a controlled substance or a controlled substance analogue, including:

  • (A) a condenser;
  • (B) a distilling apparatus;
  • (C) a vacuum drier;
  • (D) a three-neck or distilling flask;
  • (E) a tableting machine;
  • (F) an encapsulating machine;
  • (G) a filter, Buchner, or separatory funnel;
  • (H) an Erlenmeyer, two-neck, or single-neck flask;
  • (I) a round-bottom, Florence, thermometer, or filtering flask;
  • (J) a Soxhlet extractor;
  • (K) a transformer;
  • (L) a flask heater;
  • (M) a heating mantel; or
  • (N) an adaptor tube.

  Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.  Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1100, Sec. 5.02(b), eff. Sept. 1, 1989;  Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 351, Sec. 27, eff. Sept. 1, 1993;  Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 789, Sec. 15, eff. Sept. 1, 1993;  Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 2.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 745, Sec. 1, 2, eff. Jan. 1, 1998;  Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 145, Sec. 1, 5(1), eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 251, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001;  Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1188, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 88, Sec. 9, eff. May 20, 2003;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1099, Sec. 4, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.

  NOTE: This information is NOT LEGAL ADVICE. It is provided for EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY. If you need legal advice regarding a criminal matter in the State of Texas, please contact MARK THIESSEN at 1-855-DWI-MARK or fill out a brief case evaluation form.