Virginia State Police’s pharmaceutical drug diversion program works with the DEA, the Department of Health Professions, and the Department of Medical Assistance Services, along with local law enforcement agencies, to combat the diversion of prescription drugs for illicit purposes. A major role of the program is educating local law enforcement officials about the extent of the drug diversion problem in their own jurisdictions and what they can do to end it. This program also includes the education of health care professionals, both physicians and pharmacists, about the magnitude of the problem and the importance of self-policing and ensuring the integrity of their individual health care delivery systems.
The Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program
The Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program is operated by the Department of Health Professions. For law enforcement to access and obtain information from the Prescription Monitoring Program, the following criteria must be met according to VA Code § 54.1-2523:
- Information received must be relevant to a specific investigation of a specific recipient or of a specific dispenser or prescriber
- Information must be provided to an agent who has completed the Virginia State Police Drug Diversion School and is designated by the Superintendent of the Department of State Police or by the chief law enforcement officer of any county, city, town or campus police department to conduct drug diversion investigations pursuant to VA Code § 54.1-3405.
The Department of State Police offers a Drug Diversion School once a year to provide training on the investigation of pharmaceutical diversion. Please contact the Drug Diversion Section (DDS) for more information.
The Diversion Alert Fax System (DAFS)
The Department of State Police maintains the Diversion Alert Fax System (DAFS), a mass communication system designed to convey intelligence about prescription fraud to Virginia pharmacies.
If a practitioner discovers any of the following:
- a prescription pad stolen,
- alterations to his/her prescriptions,
- and/or the illegal use of a name or DEA number in order to obtain fraudulent telephone prescriptions,
the practitioner should contact the State Police, Drug Diversion Section (DDS) at one of the numbers below. Pharmacists can also provide information, which will be verified before inclusion in the system. DDS, through DAFS, will send a single-page alert with the information to all fax-equipped pharmacies within the practitioner’s county/city and surrounding jurisdictions.
To subscribe your pharmacy to DAFS, download the enrollment form.
Contact
Euniqueca Reed,
Drug Diversion Analyst
Phone: (804) 674-2779
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday
OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS HOURS
Call Virginia Drug Hot Line: (800) 553-DOPE (3673)
and tell them this is a DAFS Request.
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