CHAPTER 225 - NARCOTIC DRUGS
AN ACT DEFINING AND RELATING TO NARCOTIC DRUGS AND THE USE THEREOF, REGULATING AND PROHIBITING THE MANUFACTURE, POSSESSION, CONTROL, SALE, PRESCRIPTION, ADMINISTRATION, DISPENSATION AND COMPOUNDING THEREOF, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF, PROVIDING FOR THE COMMITMENT OF PERSONS ADDICTED TO THE USE THEREOF, REGULATING AND PROHIBITING THE SALE AND POSSESSION OF INSTRUMENTS ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF NARCOTIC DRUGS BY SUBCUTANEOUS INJECTION, MAKING UNIFORM THE LAW WITH REFERENCE THERETO, AND REPEALING ALL ACTS OR PARTS OF ACTS INCONSISTENT THEREWITH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. The following words and phrases, as used in this act, shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires.
(1) "Person" includes any corporation, association, copartnership, or one or more individuals.
(2) "Physician" means a person authorized by law to practice medicine in this state and any other person authorized by law to treat sick and injured human beings in this state and to use narcotic drugs in connection with such treatment.
(3) "Dentist" means a person authorized by law to practice dentistry in this state.
(4) "Veterinarian" means a person authorized by law to practice veterinary medicine in this state.
(5) "Manufacturer" means a person who by compounding, mixing, cultivating, growing, or other process, produces or prepares narcotic drugs, but does not include an apothecary who compounds narcotic drugs to be sold or dispensed on prescriptions.
(6) "Wholesaler" means a person who supplies narcotic drugs that he himself has not produced nor prepared, on official written orders, but on prescriptions.
(7) "Apothecary" means a licensed pharmacist as defined by the laws of this state, and, where the context so requires, the owner of a store or other place of business where narcotic drugs art compounded or dispensed by a licensed pharmacist; but nothing in this act shall be construed as conferring on a person who is not registered or licensed as a pharmacist any authority, right, or privilege, that is not granted to him by the pharmacy laws of this state.
(8) "Hospital" means an institution for the care and treatment of the sick and injured, approved by the State Board of Health as proper to be entrusted with the custody of narcotic drugs and the professional use of narcotic drugs under the direction of a physician, dentist or veterinarian.
(9) "Laboratory" means a laboratory approved by the State Board of Health as proper to be entrusted with the custody of narcotic drugs and the use of narcotic drugs for scientific and medical purposes and for purposes of instruction.
(0) "Sale" includes barter, exchange, or gift, or offer therefor, and each such transaction made by any person, whether as principal, proprietor, agent, servant, or employee.
(6) "Coca leaves" includes cocoaine and any compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of cocoa leaves, except derivatives of coca leaves which do not contain cocaine, ecgonine, or substances from which cocaine or ecgonine may be synthesized or made.
(7) "Opium" includes morphine, codeine, and heroin, and any compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of opium, but does not include apomorphine or any of its salts.
(13) "Narcotic drugs" means coca leaves and opium and every substance neither chemically nor physically distinguishable from them, morphine, cocaine, chloral-hydrate, alpha or betaeucaine, heroin, codeine, cannabis indica, cannabis americana, cannabis sativa, loco weed, Canadian hemp, marajuahana, marajuana, and all allied drugs of the same botanical family, or any compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, or preparation thereof, or any synthetic substitute therefor.
(14) "Federal Narcotic Laws" means the laws of the United States relating to opium, coca leaves, and other narcotic drugs.
(15) "Official written order" means an order written on a form provided for that purpose by the United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue, under any laws of the United States making provision therefor, if such order forms are authorized and required by federal law, and if no such order form is provided, then on an official form provided for that purpose by the State Board of Health.
(16) "Dispense" includes distribute, leave with, give away, dispose of, or deliver.
(17) "Registry number" means the number assigned to each person registered under the Federal Narcotic Laws.
Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, possess, have under his control, sell, prescribe, administer, dispense, or compound any narcotic drug, except as authorized in this act.
Section 3. No person shall manufacture, compound, mix, cultivate, grow, or by any other process produce or prepare narcotic drugs, and no person as a wholesaler shall supply the same, without having first obtained a license so to do from the State Board of Health.
Section 4. No license shall be issued under the foregoing sections unless and until the applicant therefor has furnished proof satisfactory to the State Board of Health:
(a) That the applicant is of good moral character or, if the applicant be an association or corporation, that the managing officers are of good moral character.
(b) That the applicant is equipped as to land, buildings, and paraphernalia properly to carry on the business described in his application.
No license shall be granted to any person who has within five years been convicted of a willful violation of any law of the United States, or of any state, relating to opium, coca leaves, or other narcotic drugs, or to any person who is a narcotic drug addict.
The State Board of Health may suspend or revoke any license for cause.
Section 5. (1) A duly licensed manufacturer or wholesaler may sell and dispense narcotic drugs to any of the following persons, but only on official written orders:
(c) To a manufacturer, wholesaler, or apothecary.
(d) To a physician, dentist, or veterinarian.
(e) To a person in charge of a hospital, but only for use by or in that hospital.
(f) To a person in charge of a laboratory, but only for use in that laboratory for scientific and medical purposes.
(2) A duly licensed manufacturer or wholesaler may sell narcotic drugs to any of the following persons:
(a) On a special written order accompanied by a certificate of exemption, as required by the Federal Narcotic Laws, to a person in the employ of the United States Government or of any state, territorial, district, county, municipal, or insular government, purchasing, receiving, possessing, or dispensing narcotic drugs by reason of his official duties.
(b) To a master of a ship or a person in charge of any aircraft upon which no physician is regularly employed, for the actual medical needs of persons on board such ship or aircraft, when not in port. Provided: Such narcotic drugs shall be sold to the master of such ship or person in charge of such aircraft only in pursuance of a special order form approved by a commissioned medical officer or acting assistant surgeon of the United States Public Health Service.
(c) To a person in a foreign country if the provisions of the Federal Narcotic Laws are complied with.
(3) An official written order for any narcotic drug shall be signed in duplicate by the person giving said order or by his duly authorized agent. The original shall be presented to the person who sells or dispenses the narcotic drug or drugs named therein. In the event of the acceptance of such order by said person, each party to the transaction shall preserve his copy of such order for a period of two years in such a way as to be readily accessible for inspection by any public officer or employee engaged in the enforcement of this act. It shall be deemed a compliance with this subsection if the parties to the transaction have complied with the Federal Narcotic Laws, respecting the requirements governing the use of order forms.
(4) Possession of or control of narcotic drugs obtained as authorized by this section shall be lawful if in the regular course of business, occupation, profession, employment, or duty of the possessor.
(5) A person in charge of a hospital or of a laboratory, or in the employ of this state or of any other state, or of any political subdivision thereof, and a master or other proper officer of a ship or aircraft, who obtains narcotic drugs under the provisions of this section or otherwise, shall not administer, nor dispense, nor otherwise use such drugs, within this state, except within the scope of his employment or official duty, and then only for scientific or medicinal purposes and subject to the provision of this act.
Section 6. (1) An apothecary, in good faith, may sell and dispense narcotic drugs to any person upon a written prescription of a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, dated and signed by the person prescribing on the day when issued and bearing the full name and address of the patient for whom, or of the owner of the animal for which the drug is dispensed, and the full name, address and registry number under the Federal Narcotic Laws of the person prescribing, if he is required by those laws to be so registered. If the prescription be for an animal, it shall state the species of animal for which the drug is prescribed. The person filling the prescription shall write the date of filling and his own signature on the face of the prescription. The prescription shall be retained on file by the proprietor of the pharmacy in which it is filled for a period of two years, so as to be readily accessible for inspection by any public officer or employee engaged in the enforcement of this act. The prescription shall not be refilled.
(2) The legal owner of any stock of narcotic drugs in a pharmacy, upon discontinuance of dealing in said drugs, may sell said stock to a manufacturer, wholesaler, or apothecary, but only on an official written order.
(3) An apothecary, only upon an official written order, may sell to a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, in quantities not exceeding one ounce at any one time, aqueous or oleaginous solutions of which the content of narcotic drugs does not exceed a proportion greater than twenty per cent of the complete solution, to be used for medical purposes.
Section 7. (1) A physician or a dentist, in good faith and in the course of his professional practice only, may prescribe, administer, and dispense narcotic drugs, or he may cause the same to be administered by a nurse or interne under his direction and supervision.
(2) A veterinarian, in good faith and in the course of his professional practice only, and not for use by a human being, may prescribe, administer, and dispense narcotic drugs, and he may cause them to be administered by an assistant or orderly under his direction and supervision.
(3) Any person who has obtained from a physician, dentist, or veterinarian any narcotic drug for administration to a patient during the absence of such physician, dentist, or veterinarian, shall return to such physician, dentist or veterinarian any unused portion of such drug, when it is no longer required by the patient.
Section 8. Except as otherwise in this act specifically provided, this act shall not apply to the following cases:
(1) Prescribing, administering, dispensing, or selling at retail of any medicinal preparation that contains in one fluid ounce, or if a solid or semi-solid preparation, in one avoirdupois ounce, (a) not more than two grains of opium, (b) not more than one-quarter of a grain of morphine or of any of its salts, (c) not more than one grain of codeine or any of its salts, (d) not more than one-eighth of a grain of heroin or of any of its salts, (e) and not more than one of the drugs named above in clauses (a), (b), (c), and (d).
(2) Prescribing, administering, dispensing, or selling at retail of liniments, ointments, and other preparations, that are susceptible of external use only and that contain narcotic drugs in such combinations as prevent their being readily extracted from such liniments, ointments, or preparations, except that this act shall apply to all liniments, ointments and other preparations, that contain coca leaves in any quantity or combination.
The exemptions authorized by this Section shall be subject to the following conditions:
(a) No person shall prescribe, administer, dispense, or sell under the exemptions of this section, to any one person, or for the use of any one person or animal, any preparation or preparations included within this section, when he knows, or can by reasonable diligence ascertain, that such prescribing, administering, dispensing, or selling will provide the person to whom or for whose use, or the owner of the animal for the use of which, such preparation is prescribed, administered, dispensed, or sold, within any forty-eight consecutive hours, with more than four grains of opium, or more than one-half grain of morphine or of any of its salts, or more than two grains of codeine or of any of its salts, or more than one-quarter of a grain of heroin or of any of its salts, or will provide such person or the owner of such animal, within forty-eight consecutive hours, with more than one preparation exempted by this section from the operation of this act.
(b) The medicinal preparation, or the liniment, ointment, or other preparation susceptible of external use only, prescribed, administered, dispensed, or sold, shall contain, in addition to the narcotic drug in it, some drug or drugs conferring upon it medicinal qualities other than those possessed by the narcotic drug alone. Such preparation shall be prescribed, administered, dispensed, and sold in good faith as a medicine, and not for the purpose of evading the provisions of this act.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the kind and quantity of any narcotic drug that may be prescribed, administered, dispensed, or sold, to any person or for the use of any person or animal, when it is prescribed, administered, dispensed, or sold, in compliance with the general provisions of this act.
Section 9. (1) Every physician, dentist, veterinarian, or other person who is authorized to administer or professionally use narcotic drugs, shall keep a record of such drugs received by him, and a record of all such drugs administered, dispensed, or professionally used by him otherwise than by prescription. It shall, however, be deemed a sufficient compliance with this subsection if any such person using small quantities of solutions or other preparations of such drugs for local application, shall keep a record of the quantity, character, and potency of such solutions or other preparations purchased or made up by him, and of the dates when purchased or made up, without keeping a record of the amount of such solution or other preparation applied by him to individual patients.
Provided: That no record need be kept of narcotic drugs administered, dispensed, or professionally used in the treatment of any one patient, when the amount administered, dispensed, or professionally used for that purpose does not exceed in any forty-eight consecutive hours, (a) four grains of opium, or (b) one-half of a grain of morphine or of any of its salts, or (c) two grains of codeine or of any of its salts, or (d) one-fourth of a grain of heroin or of any of its salts, or (e) a quantity of any narcotic drug or any combination of narcotic drugs that does not exceed in pharmacologic potency any one of the drugs named above in the quantity stated.
(2) Manufacturers and wholesalers shall keep records of all narcotic drugs compounded, mixed, cultivated, grown, or by any other process produced or prepared, and of all narcotic drugs received and disposed of by them, in accordance with the provisions of subsection 5 of this section.
(3) Apothecaries shall keep records of all narcotic drugs received and disposed of by them, in accordance with the provisions of subsection 5 of this section.
(4) Every person who purchases for resale, or who sells narcotic drug preparations exempted by Section 8 of this Act, shall keep a record showing the quantities and kinds thereof received and sold, or disposed of otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of subsection 5 of this section.
(5) The form of records shall be prescribed by the State Board of Health. The record of narcotic drugs received shall in every case show the date of receipt, the name and address of the person from whom received, and the kind and quantity of drugs received; the kind and quantity of narcotic drugs produced or removed from process of manufacture, and the date of such production or removal from process of manufacture; and the record shall in every case show the proportion of morphine, cocaine, or ecognine contained in or producible from crude opium or coca leaves received or produced. The record of all narcotic drugs sold, administered, dispensed, or otherwise disposed of, shall show the date of selling, administering, or dispensing, the name and address of the person to whom, or for whose use, or the owner and species of animal for which the drugs were sold, administered or dispensed, and the kind and quantity of drugs. Every such record shall be kept for a period of two years from the date of the transaction recorded. The keeping of a record required by or under the Federal Narcotic Laws, containing substantially the same information as is specified above, shall constitute compliance with this section, except that every such record shall contain a detailed list of narcotic drugs lost, destroyed, or stolen, if any, the kind and quantity of such drugs, and the date of the discovery of such loss, destruction, or theft.
Section 10. (1) Whenever a manufacturer sells or dispenses a narcotic drug, and whenever a wholesaler sells or dispenses a narcotic drug in a package prepared by him, he shall securely affix to each package in which that drug is contained a label showing in legible English the name and address of the vendor and the quantity, kind, and form of narcotic drug contained therein. No person, except an apothecary for the purpose of filling a prescription under this act, shall alter, deface, or remove any label so affixed.
(2) Whenever an apothecary sells or dispenses any narcotic drug on a prescription issued by a physician, dentist, or veterinarian, he shall affix to the container in which such drug is sold or dispensed, a label showing his own name, address, and registry number, or the name, address, and registry number of the apothecary for whom he is lawfully acting; the name and address of the patient or, if the patient is an animal, the name and address of the owner of the animal and the species of the animal; the name, address, and registry number of the physician, dentist, or veterinarian, by whom the prescription was written; and such directions as may be stated on the prescription. No person shall alter, deface, or remove any label so affixed.
Section 11. A person to whom or for whose use any narcotic drug has been prescribed, sold, or dispensed, by a physician, dentist, apothecary, or other person authorized under the provisions of Section 5 of this act, and the owner of any animal for which any such drug has been prescribed, sold, or dispensed, by a veterinarian, may lawfully possess it only in the container in which it was delivered to him by the person selling or dispensing the same.
Section 12. The provisions of this act restricting the possessing and having control of narcotic drugs shall not apply to common carriers or to warehouseman, while engaged in lawfully transporting or storing such drugs, or to any employee of the same acting within the scope of his employment; or to public officers or their employees in the performance of their official duties requiring possession or control of narcotic drugs; or to temporary incidental possession by employees or agents of persons lawfully entitled to possession, or by persons whose possession is for the purpose of aiding public officers in performing their official duties.
Section 13. Any store, shop, warehouse, dwelling house, building, vehicle, boat, aircraft, or any place whatever, which is resorted to by narcotic drug addicts for the purpose of using narcotic drugs or which is used for the illegal keeping or selling of the same, shall be deemed a common nuisance. No person shall keep or maintain such a common nuisance.
Section 14. All narcotic drugs, the lawful possession of which is not established or the title to which cannot be ascertained, which have come into the custody of a peace officer, shall be forfeited, and disposed of as follows:
(a) Except as in this section otherwise provided, the court or magistrate having jurisdiction shall order such narcotic drugs forfeited and destroyed. A record of the place where said drugs were seized, of the kinds and quantities of drugs so destroyed, and of the time, place and manner of destruction, shall be kept, and a return under oath, reporting said destruction, shall be made to the court or magistrate and to the United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue, by the officer who destroys them.
() Upon a written application by the State Board of Health, the court or magistrate by whom the forfeiture of narcotic drugs has been decreed may order the delivery of any of them, except heroin and its salts and derivatives, to said State Board of Health, for distribution or destruction, as hereinafter provided.
(a) Upon application by any hospital within this State, not operated for private gain, the State Board of Health may in its discretion deliver any narcotic drugs that have come into its custody by authority of this section to the applicant for medicinal use. The State Board of Health may from time to time deliver excess stocks of such narcotic drugs to the United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue, or may destroy the same.
(d) The State Board of Health shall keep a full and complete record of all drugs received and of all drugs disposed of, showing the exact kinds, quantities, and forms of such drugs; the persons from whom received and to whom delivered; by whose authority received, delivered and destroyed; and the dates of the receipt, disposal, or destruction, which record shall be open to inspection by all Federal or State officers charged with the enforcement of Federal and State narcotic laws.
Section 15. On the conviction of any person of the violation of any provision of this act, a copy of the judgment and sentence, and of the opinion of the court or magistrate, if any opinion be filed, shall be sent by the clerk of the court, or by the magistrate, to the board or officer, if any, by whom the convicted defendant has been licensed or registered to practice his profession or to carry on his business. On the conviction of any such person, the court may, in its discretion, suspend or revoke the license or registration of the convicted defendant to practice his profession or to carry on his business. On the application of any person whose license or registration has been suspended or revoked, and upon proper showing and for good cause, said board or officers may reinstate such license or registration.
Section 16. Prescription, orders, and records, required by this act, and stocks of narcotic drugs, shall be open for inspection only to federal, state, county and municipal officers, whose duty it is to enforce the laws of this state or of the United States relating to narcotic drugs. No officer having knowledge by virtue of his office of any such prescription, order, or record shall divulge such knowledge, except in connection with a prosecution or proceeding in court or before a licensing or registration board or officer, to which prosecution or proceeding the person to whom such prescriptions, orders, or records relate is a party.
Section 17. (1) No person shall obtain or attempt to obtain a narcotic drug, or procure or attempt to procure the administration of a narcotic drug, (a) by fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, or subterfuge; or (b) by the forgery or alteration of a prescription or of any written order; or (c) by the concealment of a material fact; or (d) by the use of a false name or the giving of a false address.
(2) Information communicated to a physician in an effort unlawfully to procure a narcotic drug, or unlawfully to procure the administration of any such drug, shall not be deemed a privileged communication.
(3) No person shall willfully make a false statement in any prescription, order, report, or record, required by this act.
(4) No person shall, for the purpose of obtaining a narcotic drug, falsely assume the title of, or represent himself to be, a manufacturer, wholesaler, apothecary, physician, dentist, veterinarian, or other authorized person.
(5) No person shall make or utter any false or forged prescription or false or forged written order.
(6) No person shall affix any false or forged label to a package or receptacle containing narcotic drugs.
(7) The provisions of this section shall apply to all transactions relating to narcotic drugs under the provisions of Section S of this act, in the same way as they apply to transactions under all other sections.
Section 18. That whenever a complaint shall be made to any Justice of the Peace that any person is addicted to the use of the drugs mentioned in this Act in a manner contrary to the public welfare, and such use is not prescribed, directed or approved by a duly licensed physician acting in the course of his professional practice, and such Justice of the Peace, after a fair hearing held upon a reasonable notice, is satisfied that the complaint is sufficiently founded he may commit such person to a State, County, or City hospital or institution. Whenever it shall appear to any Justice of the Peace that such person is no longer addicted to the use of the aforesaid drugs in a manner contrary to the public welfare, or in his discretion, he may order a discharge from such commitment. The provisions of this Section shall not be construed to prohibit any person committed to any institution under its provisions from appealing to any Court having jurisdiction for a review of the sufficiency of the evidence upon which the commitment was made.
Section 19. That the board or officers of this State duly empowered to issue a license to a physician, dentist, veterinary surgeon, pharmacist or nurse, authorizing the practice of such professions in this State may, at any time, and after a fair hearing held upon a reasonable notice, revoke such license upon the production of sufficient evidence that the licensee is addicted to the use of the drugs mentioned in this act in a manner contrary to the public welfare. Whenever it shall appear to such board or officers that such physician, dentist, veterinary surgeon, pharmacist or nurse is no longer addicted to the use of the aforesaid drugs in a manner contrary to the public welfare, they may reissue said license.
Section 20. It is unlawful for any person to sell at retail or to furnish to any person other than a duly licensed physician, dentist or veterinary surgeon, an instrument commonly known as a hypodermic syringe or an instrument commonly known as a hypodermic needle, or any instrument adapted for the use of narcotic drugs by subcutaneous injection, without a written order of a duly licensed physician, dentist, or veterinary surgeon. Every person who disposes of or sells at retail, or furnishes or gives away to any person the above instruments, upon the written order of a duly licensed physician, dentist or veterinary surgeon, shall before delivering the same, enter in a book kept for that purpose the day of the sale, the name, age and address of the purchaser, and a description of the instrument sold, disposed of, furnished or given away. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, except a licensed pharmacist, licensed druggist, licensed physician, licensed dentist, licensed veterinary surgeon, hospital or regular dealer in medical or surgical supplies, to possess such instrument, without having in their possession a certificate from a physician certifying that the possession of such instrument is necessary for the treatment of injury, deformity or disease then suffered by the person possessing the same, or if possessed by a nurse, a certificate from a duly licensed physician that such possession is for professional purposes. Any person or persons who sell, dispose of or give away any instrument commonly known as a hypodermic syringe, or an instrument commonly known as a hypodermic needle, or any instrument adapted for the use of narcotic drugs by subcutaneous injection, except in the manner prescribed in this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, provided, however, that any person owning or having in his possession any such hypodermic syringe or hypodermic needle, or any instrument adapted for the use of narcotic drugs by subcutaneous injection at the time this section takes effect, may lawfully keep or retain the same upon obtaining from a duly licensed and registered physician, dentist or veterinary surgeon within ten days after this section shall take effect, a certificate to the effect that such syringe, needle or instrument was purchased before this section took effect, and that such syringe, needle or instrument may be required for future use for treatment of an injury, deformity or disease from which the person possessing the instrument is then suffering.
Section 21. Every Justice of the Peace, upon information made under oath or affirmation that any person is manufacturing, possessing, having under his control, selling, prescribing, administering, dispensing, or compounding, any narcotic drug, hypodermic needle, or any instrument adapted for the use of narcotic drugs by subcutaneous injection, contrary to law, or that the affiant has cause to believe and does believe that such narcotic drugs, hypodermic syringe, hypodermic needle, or instrument adapted for the use of narcotic drugs by subcutaneous injection, are being manufactured, possessed, controlled, sold, prescribed, administered, dispensed or compounded, in any house, building, store, place of business or other place named therein, contrary to the provisions of this act, shall issue his warrant requiring the person or persons suspected to be arrested, and the said house, building, store, place of business or other place to be searched, and the parties found therein to be arrested and brought before him as aforesaid, and in such warrant shall require the officer to whom it is directed to seize and hold all narcotic drugs, hypodermic syringes, hypodermic needles and instruments adapted for the use of narcotic drugs by subcutaneous injection, found in such house, building, store, place of business, or other place, and also all vessels, fixtures, containers, bottles, apparatus, and other appurtenances apparently used in connection therewith, contrary to law. All drugs or other articles so seized shall be safely retained in the custody of the officer seizing the same, and a true inventory thereof filed with the Justice or Clerk of the Court having jurisdiction of the cause. Said drugs or other articles so seized and retained shall be used as evidence in any cause or causes for alleged violation or violations of any of the provisions of this act, and upon the termination of said cause or causes shall be disposed of by order of the court having jurisdiction of said cause or causes.
Section 22. In any complaint, information, or indictment, and in any action or proceeding brought for the enforcement of any provision of this act, it shall not be necessary to negative any exception, excuse, proviso, or exemption, contained in this act, and the burden of proof of any such exception, excuse, proviso, or exemption, shall be upon the defendant.
Section 23. It is hereby made the duty of the State Board of Health, its officers, agents, inspectors and representatives, and of all peace officers within the state, and of the Attorney General, to enforce all provisions of this act, except those specifically delegated, and to cooperate with all agencies charged with the enforcement of the laws of the United States, of this state, and of all other states, relating to narcotic drugs.
Section 24. Any person who violates or fails to comply with any of the provisions or requirements of this act shall upon conviction be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) or by imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, in the discretion of the Court. The Municipal Court of the City of Wilmington shall have concurrent jurisdiction of all violations of the provisions and requirements of this act occurring within the corporate limits of the City of Wilmington.
Section 25. No person shall be prosecuted for a violation of any provision of this act if such person has been acquitted or convicted under the Federal Narcotic Laws of the same act or omission which, it is alleged, constituted a violation of this act.
Section 26. If any provision of this act or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are declared to be severable.
Section 27. This act shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate its general purpose, to make uniform the laws of those states which enact it.
Section 28. Article 40 of Chapter 100 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware as amended by Chapter 214 Volume 30, Chapter 61 Volume 31, Chapter 197 Volume 32, Chapter 217 Volume 33, and Chapter 191 Volume 38, Laws of Delaware, and all acts or parts of acts which are inconsistent with the provisions of this act, be and the same are hereby repealed. All laws of the State of Delaware which are repealed by this act shall remain in force, so far as concern any crime or crimes committed before the passage of this act and which are punishable by any law or laws so repealed hereby.
Section 29. This act may be cited as the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act.
Section 30. This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage and approval.
Approved April 18, 1935.