§60A-9-7. Criminal penalties; and administrative violations.

(a) Any person who is required to submit information to the state Board of Pharmacy pursuant to the provisions of this article who fails to do so as directed by the board is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $500.

(b) Any person who is required to submit information to the state Board of Pharmacy pursuant to the provisions of this article who knowingly and willfully refuses to submit the information required by this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a county or regional jail not more than six months or fined not more than $1,000, or both confined and fined.

(c) Any person who is required by the provisions of this article to submit information to the state Board of Pharmacy who knowingly submits thereto information known to that person to be false or fraudulent is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a county or regional jail not more than one year or fined not more than $5,000, or both confined and fined.

(d) Any person granted access to the information required by the provisions of this article to be maintained by the state Board of Pharmacy, who shall willfully disclose the information required to be maintained by this article in a manner inconsistent with a legitimate law-enforcement purpose, a legitimate professional regulatory purpose, the terms of a court order or as otherwise expressly authorized by the provisions of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a county or regional jail for not more than six months or fined not more than $1,000, or both confined and fined.

(e) Unauthorized access or use or unauthorized disclosure for reasons unrelated to the purposes of this article of the information in the database is a felony punishable by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years or fined not less than $3,000 nor more than $10,000, or both imprisoned or fined.

(f) Any practitioner who fails to register with the West Virginia Controlled Substances Monitoring Program and obtain and maintain online or other electronic access to the program database as required in subsection (a), section five-a, article nine of this chapter, shall be subject to an administrative penalty of $1,000 by the licensing board of his or her licensure.  All such fines collected pursuant to this subsection shall be remitted by the applicable licensing board to the Fight Substance Abuse Fund created under section eight of this article. The provisions of this subsection shall become effective on July 1, 2016.

(g) Any practitioner or dispenser who is required to access the information contained in the West Virginia Controlled Substances Monitoring Program database as set forth in subsection (a), section five-a of this article and fails to do so as directed by the rules of his or her licensing board shall be subject to such discipline as the licensing board deems appropriate and on or after July 1, 2016, be subject to a $100 administrative penalty per violation by the applicable licensing board. All such fines collected pursuant to this subsection shall be transferred by the applicable licensing board to the Fight Substance Abuse Fund created under section eight of this article.

(h) Lack of available internet connectivity is a defense to any action brought pursuant to subsections (d) or (f) of this section.