(1)  In this section –

blank prescription form means –

(a) a form that the Commission established under section 4 of the Health Insurance Commission Act 1973 of the Commonwealth has supplied or caused to be supplied to a health professional for the purposes of writing a prescription in accordance with the National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Regulations 1960 of the Commonwealth; or

(b) a form that a health professional has privately prepared or caused to be prepared for the purpose of writing a prescription, being a form that identifies, and purports to be a prescription form of, that health professional;

conduct includes the making of an oral or written representation;

health professional means –

(a) a medical practitioner; and

(b) a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Tasmania) in the dental profession as a dentist; and

(c) a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Tasmania) in the nursing profession who is endorsed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia to practise as a nurse practitioner; and

(d) a person who may lawfully practise as a veterinary surgeon, whether in this State or in a Territory or another State.

prescription means a prescription of a health professional, for the supply of a substance comprising or consisting of a controlled drug or controlled precursor;

unlawfully altered , in relation to a prescription, means altered by a person other than the health professional who issued it.

(2)  A person must not –

(a) forge a prescription; or

(b) possess a prescription knowing it to have been forged or unlawfully altered; or

(c) utter a prescription knowing it to have been forged or unlawfully altered.

Penalty:  Fine not exceeding 50 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

(3)  A person must not unlawfully alter a prescription.

Penalty:  Fine not exceeding 50 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

(4)  A person must not obtain a prescription by means of conduct that the person knows to be false, misleading or deceptive.

Penalty:  Fine not exceeding 50 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

(5)  A person must not, without lawful excuse, possess a blank prescription form.

Penalty:  Fine not exceeding 50 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.