---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-13-72. Sale, distribution, or possession of dangerous drugs.
collection: code
id: 16-13-72
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-13-72 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-13-72
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-13-72.md
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source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch12-17-(v14b)-2024-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=a591fa7b_0#page=692
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CRIMES AND OFFENSES / CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES / DANGEROUS DRUGS
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---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-13-72. Sale, distribution, or possession of dangerous drugs.

Except as provided for in this article, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association to sell, give away, barter, exchange, distribute, or possess in this state any dangerous drug, except under the following conditions:

(1) A drug manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, or supplier holding a license or registration issued in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and authorizing the holder to possess dangerous drugs may possess dangerous drugs within this state but may not distribute, sell, exchange, give away, or by any other means supply dangerous drugs without a permit issued by the State Board of Pharmacy. Any drug manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, or supplier holding a permit issued by the State Board of Pharmacy may sell, give away, exchange, or distribute dangerous drugs within this state, but only to a pharmacy, pharmacist, a practitioner of the healing arts, and educational institutions licensed by the state, or to a drug wholesaler, distributor, or supplier, and only if such distribution is made in the normal course of employment;

(2) A pharmacy may possess dangerous drugs, but the same shall not be sold, given away, bartered, exchanged, or distributed except by a licensed pharmacist in accordance with this article;

(3) A pharmacist may possess dangerous drugs but may sell, give away, barter, exchange, or distribute the same only when he compounds or dispenses the same upon the prescription of a practitioner of the healing arts. No such prescription shall be refilled except upon the authorization of the practitioner who prescribed it;

(4) A practitioner of the healing arts may possess dangerous drugs and may sell, give away, barter, exchange, or distribute the same in accordance with Code Section 16-13-74;

(4.1) A physician in conformity with Code Section 43-34-23 may delegate to a nurse or a physician assistant the authority to possess vaccines and such other drugs as specified by the physician for adverse reactions to those vaccines, and a nurse or physician assistant may possess such drugs pursuant to that delegation; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to restrict any authority of nurses or physician assistants existing under other provisions of law;

(4.2) A registered professional nurse licensed under Article 1 of Chapter 26 of Title 43 who is employed or engaged by a licensed home health agency may possess sterile saline, sterile water, and diluted heparin for use as intravenous maintenance for use in a home health setting, and such nurse may administer such items to patients of the home health agency upon the order of a licensed physician. The State Board of Pharmacy shall be authorized to adopt regulations governing the storage, quantity, use, and administration of such items; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph or in such regulations shall be construed to restrict any authority of nurses existing under other provisions of law;

(4.3) Possession, planting, cultivation, growing, or harvesting of Salvia divinorum or Salvia divinorum A strictly for esthetic, landscaping, or decorative purposes;

(5) A manufacturer’s sales representative may distribute a dangerous drug as a complimentary sample only upon the written request of a practitioner. The request must be made for each distribution and shall contain the names and addresses of the supplier and the requestor and the name and quantity of the specific dangerous drug requested. The written request shall be preserved by the manufacturer for a period of two years; and

(6) Such person, firm, corporation, or association shall keep a complete and accurate record of all dangerous drugs received, purchased, manufactured, sold, dispensed, or otherwise disposed of and shall maintain such records for at least two years or in conformance with any other state or federal law or rule issued by the State Board of Pharmacy.

## History

Code 1933, § 79A-703, enacted by Ga. L. 1967, p. 296, § 1; Ga. L. 1972, p. 948, § 2; Ga. L. 1975, p. 690, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 16; Ga. L. 1996, p. 356, § 6; Ga. L. 1998, p. 219, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 643, § 5.2; Ga. L. 2003, p. 140, § 16; Ga. L. 2009, p. 859, § 5/HB 509; Ga. L. 2010, p. 905, § 2/HB 1021; Ga. L. 2024, p. 1052, § 3(16)/SB 448, effective July 1, 2024.

## Cross References

Pharmacists and pharmacies generally, § 26-4-1 et seq.

Reward for furnishing information leading to arrest and conviction of person charged with selling dangerous drugs, § 45-12-37.

## Code Commission Notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1992, “Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act” was substituted for “Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act” in paragraph (1).

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2011, “Georgia” was deleted preceding “State Board of Pharmacy” at the end of paragraph (6).

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “however, that” for “however,” in the last sentence of paragraph (4.2) and substituted “esthetic,” for “aesthetic,” in paragraph (4.3).