Colorado § 18-18-503 - Cooperative arrangements and confidentiality.

§ 18-18-503. Cooperative arrangements and confidentiality.

(1) The board and the BHA shall cooperate with federal and other state agencies in discharging the board's and the BHA's responsibilities concerning controlled substances and in controlling the abuse of controlled substances. To this end, the BHA may:

(a) Arrange for the exchange of information among governmental officials concerning the use and abuse of controlled substances;

(b) Coordinate and cooperate in training programs concerning controlled substance law enforcement at local and state levels;

(c) Cooperate with the drug enforcement administration by establishing a centralized unit to accept, catalog, file, and collect statistics, including records of persons with substance use disorders and other controlled substance law offenders within this state, and make the information available for federal, state, and local law enforcement purposes, but may not furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject whose identity could not be obtained pursuant to subsection (3) of this section; and

(d) Conduct programs of eradication aimed at destroying wild or illicit growth of plant species from which controlled substances may be extracted.

(2) Results, information, and evidence received from the drug enforcement administration relating to the regulatory functions of this article 18, including results of inspections conducted by the drug enforcement administration, may be relied and acted upon by the board or BHA in the exercise of the regulatory functions under this article 18.

(3) A practitioner engaged in medical practice or research is not required or compelled to furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject to the board or BHA, nor may the practitioner be compelled in any state or local civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceedings to furnish the name or identity of an individual that the practitioner is obligated to keep confidential.

Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 381, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2017: (1)(c) amended, (SB 17-242), ch. 263, p. 1308, § 145, effective May 25. L. 2022: IP(1), (2), and (3) amended, (HB 22-1278), ch. 222, p. 1503, § 41, effective July 1.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in SB 17-242, see section 1 of chapter 263, Session Laws of Colorado 2017.