QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 953)
RA 953 is known as the Narcotic Drugs Law. It provides for the registration with the Collector of Internal Revenue and the imposition of fixed and special taxes upon persons who produce, import, manufacture, compound, deal in, dispense, sell, distribute, or give away specified narcotic drugs, including opium, marihuana, opium poppies, coca leaves, and certain synthetic habit-forming drugs.
Every person who, with prior authority from the Collector of Internal Revenue, imports, manufactures, produces, compounds, sells, deals in, dispenses, or gives away the enumerated narcotic drugs must register. On or before January 20 of each year; those already engaged as of Jan. 1, 1952 must register within 30 days after passage of the Act and pay a proportionate tax.
Importers/manufacturers/producers/compounders: 72 pesos/year. Wholesale dealers: 36 pesos/year. Retail dealers: 12 pesos/year. Physicians/dentists/veterinary surgeons and other practitioners who lawfully dispense/administer in professional practice: 6 pesos/year. Persons obtaining drugs for laboratory research/instruction/analysis (not registered as importers/manufacturers/compounders): 6 pesos/year with special record-keeping.
A person who sells or offers for sale any of the drugs in the original stamped packages is deemed a wholesale dealer; a person who sells or dispenses from original stamped packages is deemed a retail dealer.
It is unlawful to import, manufacture, produce, compound, sell, deal in, dispense, distribute, administer, or give away the drugs without having registered and paid the fixed tax as imposed by Section 2.
An internal revenue tax of five centavos per thirty grams, with any residue of less than thirty grams in a package taxed as thirty grams. The importer/manufacturer/producer/compounder pays it and it is represented by appropriate stamps affixed to the container to securely seal it.
If transferred to a person who has paid the fixed tax and registered: 2 pesos per 30 grams (or fraction). If transferred to a person who has not paid the fixed tax and registered: 200 pesos per 30 grams (or fraction). The rate depends on whether the transferee is registered and has paid the fixed tax.
It is unlawful to sell, barter, exchange, or give away any of the drugs except pursuant to a written order of the person to whom the article is sold/bartered/exchanged/given. The order must be on a form issued in blank by the Collector of Internal Revenue; the buyer/acceptor must preserve the order and also the giver must preserve a duplicate.
Orders and duplicates must be preserved for five years and kept readily accessible to Bureau of Internal Revenue officers and other authorized officials. Preserved prescriptions must also be kept for five years. Section 6 allows inspection of duplicate order forms, prescriptions, and filed statements/returns by authorized officers, and the Collector may furnish certified copies to authorized officials.
Written order form requirements do not apply to (1) dispensing/distribution to a patient by a registered physician/dentist/veterinarian in professional practice with required patient records; (2) sale/dispensing by a dealer to a consumer under a dated and signed prescription by a registered practitioner, with the dealer preserving the prescription for five years; and (3) export/shipment delivery within the Philippines to foreign countries under those countries’ import regulations.
It is unlawful for any person not registered and not having paid the fixed tax to send/ship/carry/deliver the drugs from one province/city/municipality to another. Exemptions exist for common carriers transporting the drugs, employees acting within scope of employment, registered and tax-paid persons, deliveries pursuant to prescriptions, and officials acting within official duties.
It is unlawful to purchase/sell/dispense/distribute except in the original stamped package. Absence of appropriate tax-paid stamps is prima facie evidence of a violation by the person in whose possession the drugs are found, and possession of an original stamped package by a person who has not registered and paid is prima facie evidence of liability to special tax.
The stamp rule does not apply to drugs obtained from a registered dealer pursuant to a prescription for legitimate medical use, where the bottle/container bears druggist name and registry number, prescription serial number, patient name/address, and prescriber name/address/registry number; or to dispensing/administering/giving away to a patient by a registered practitioner in professional practice for legitimate medical purposes with required records kept.
Unregistered persons who have not paid the fixed tax cannot lawfully possess/control the drugs; such possession/control is presumptive evidence of a violation of both Section 10 and Section 2. However, exemptions are not required to be negated in charging documents; the burden of proof of exemptions is on the defendant.
Section 11 penalizes violations with up to 5,000 pesos fine and/or up to 5 years imprisonment. For second offenses, the penalty increases (up to 5,000 pesos or up to 10 years). For third or subsequent offenses, it increases further (up to 10,000 pesos or up to 20 years). It also provides a procedure for alleging prior convictions and determining identity as to the prior convictions.
Section 7 excludes preparations/remedies that contain only up to specified minimal amounts (e.g., not more than two grains of opium; morphine, heroin, codeine limits per fluid ounce or per avoirdupois ounce for solid/semisolid), and excludes external-use-only liniments/ointments, except those containing cocaine or specified equivalents. It also requires such remedies be manufactured/sold as medicines and mandates record-keeping for five years.