HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 The Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 77, is amended by adding the following Part

Part 3.1 – Pharmaceutical Equipment Control

Definition

20.1  In this Part, “designated equipment” means a pill or tablet press, tablet machine, capsule filling machine or pharmaceutical mixer or tablet punch or die, as those terms may be defined in the regulations, and any other equipment prescribed by the regulations.

Pharmaceutical equipment

20.2  (1) No person shall own, operate or possess designated equipment unless that person holds a licence under this Act or is a proprietor or is exempted under subsection (2).

(2) The following are exempt from subsection (1):

(a) an institution pharmacy;

(b) a person authorized to compound or manufacture drugs under an Act or regulation of the Legislature of British Columbia or of the Parliament of Canada;

(c) any other person designated in the regulations.

Regulations

20.3  The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) prescribing types of equipment as designated equipment for the purposes of section 20.1;

(b) defining terms for the purposes of section 20.1;

(c) respecting the granting, cancellation, and suspension of permits for any activity under this Part;

(d) respecting the charging of fees for any permit issued under this Part;

(e) designating persons or classes of persons as being exempt from section 20.2 (1);

(f) respecting the seizure, removal, return, sale, and destruction of designated equipment;

(g) respecting any matter that the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary and advisable to carry out effectively the content and purpose of this Part.

2 Section 29 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

(5.1) A person who contravenes section 20.2 (1) is guilty of an offence and is liable

(a) for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $50 000;

(b) for a 2nd offence, to a fine of not more than $125 000, or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 6 months or to both fine and imprisonment;

(c) for a 3rd and every subsequent offence, to a fine of not more than $375 000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than 1 year or to both fine and imprisonment.

Commencement

3  This Act comes into force on the date of Royal Assent.

Explanatory Note

Fentanyl is a significant factor underpinning the growing number of overdoses and fatalities caused by illicit opioids. Measures that help reduce the availability of such harmful opioids have a clear role to play in a provincial public health strategy addressing the opioid overdose crisis. Containing measures recently adopted in Alberta, this legislation makes it more difficult to illegally manufacture and distribute synthetic opioids like fentanyl, by limiting who can legally use pharmaceutical equipment like pill and tablet presses, and tablet machines.