Except as provided in this rule, prescriptions, drugs, medicines, sick room supplies and items of personal hygiene shall not be accepted for return or exchange by any pharmacist or pharmacy after such prescriptions, drugs, medicines, sick room supplies or items of personal hygiene have been taken from the premises where sold, distributed or dispensed.

(1) Those drugs and sick room supplies legally dispensed by prescription in unit dose forms or in sealed single or multiple dose ampoules or vials in which the pharmacist can readily determine that entry or attempted entry by any means has not been made and which, in the pharmacist's professional judgment, meet the standards of the United States Pharmacopeia for storage conditions including temperature, light sensitivity, chemical and physical stability may be returned.

(2) Pharmacies serving hospitals and long-term care facilities may accept for return and reuse, unit dose packages or full or partial multiple dose medication cards based on the following criteria;

(a) The pharmacist can readily determine that entry or attempt at entry to the unit dose package or blister card has not been made;

(b) In the pharmacist's professional judgment, the unit dose package or full or partial multiple dose medication card meets the standards of the United States Pharmacopeia for storage conditions including temperature, light sensitivity, chemical and physical stability;

(c) The drug has been stored in such a manner as to prevent contamination by a means that would affect the efficacy and toxicity of the drug;

(d) The drug has not come into physical possession of the person for whom it was prescribed and control of the drug being returned is known to the pharmacist to have been the responsibility of a person trained and knowledgeable in the storage and administration of drugs;

(e) The drug labeling or packaging has not been altered or defaced so that the identity of the drug, its potency, lot number, and expiration date is retrievable.

(f) If the drug is prepackaged, it shall not be mixed with drugs of different lot numbers and/or expiration dates unless the specific lot numbers are retrievable and the expiration dates accompany the drug. If the drug is extemporaneously packaged, it shall not be mixed with drugs of different expiration dates unless the earliest expiration date appears on the label of the drug.

(3) This rule shall not include items such as orthopedic appliances, crutches, canes, wheelchairs and other similar items unless otherwise prohibited.

(4) Controlled substances shall not be returned to a pharmacy except for destruction in accordance with rules of the drug enforcement administration or the Washington state board of pharmacy.