Q: What are the MI state and Fed laws for transporting and delivering prescription medications?
I work for a company that transports medications to medical facilities. We are now being asked to, as drivers, to sign narcotic manifests, confirming that specific narcotics were delivered to said facility if said facility requests that the driver signs. This would require that the drivers handle the narcotics in order to verify the included manifest. I dont feel comfortable doing this for obvious reasons and i cannot find any information on state and federal regulations that would support my employer forcing the drivers to do this.
What are the legal implementations surrounding this? Do the pharmacies hold priority via company policies if there is no legal regulation to support this? What legal ramifications would a driver face if something came up missing after signing the manifests, and the driver is not at fault?
A: Your situation is much too complicated to answer here as it involves drug laws and likely interstate commerce issues. It would seem that your employer is attempting to shore up the chain of custody, which they may very well be required to do by any number of state and federal regulations pertaining to drugs. And it may well serve to actually protect you as the driver. However, I would imagine to best protect you, you'd also need to inspect and sign something from the point of release. In other words, if narcotics come up missing, and the fingers start pointing your way, if I were you, I'd want some documentation showing that I signed for 10 packages at pick-up, and I dropped those same 10 packages off at the destination; if two other packages are missing, then they were missing from someplace else. If your employer has already implemented such a system, then if something comes up missing during your time with the product, then I would imagine you'd have some explaining to do to your employer and possibly the police.
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