The AVMA is a not-for-profit association representing more than 84,000 veterinarians working in private and corporate practice, government, industry, academia, and uniformed services. The AVMA acts as a collective voice for its membership and for the profession and is asking citizens to lend their support to the Veterinarian Mobility Act of 2013 currently before Congress.
Support Veterinarian Mobility Act
Law needs to be changed so veterinarians can legally carry and use controlled substances for the health and welfare of horses and other animals, to safeguard public safety and to protect the nation's food supply.
Veterinarians treat multiple species of animals in a variety of settings. Unfortunately, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) makes it illegal for veterinarians to take and use controlled substances outside of the locations where they are registered, often their clinics or homes.
This means that it is illegal for veterinarians to carry and use vital medications for pain management, anesthesia and euthanasia on farms, in house calls, in veterinary mobile clinics, or ambulatory response situations. Veterinarians must be able to legally carry and use controlled substances for the health and welfare of the nation’s animals, to safeguard public safety and to protect the nation’s food supply.
We encourage you to contact your members of Congress and urge them to support the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act of 2013 (H.R. 1528), which would amend the CSA that currently prohibits veterinarians from transporting controlled substances to treat their animal patients outside of their registered locations.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which enforces the law, has informed organized veterinary medicine that without a statutory change, veterinarians are in violation of the CSA and cannot legally provide complete veterinary care.
The DEA has already notified some veterinarians in California and Washington State that they are in violation of this law. The practice of veterinary medicine requires veterinarians to be able to treat their animal patients in a variety of settings, such as in:
- Rural areas - for the care of large animals where it is often not feasible, practical or possible for owners to bring livestock (i.e., cows, pigs, horses, sheep, and goats) into a veterinary hospital or clinic;
- “House call” services or mobile clinics - where veterinarians offer a variety of veterinary services for their patients or in the communities;
- Research and disease control activities - where it may be necessary to conduct research away from the veterinarian’s principal place of business;
- Emergency response situations – where injured animals must be cared for onsite; and •the removal or transfer of dangerous wildlife (e.g. bears, cougars) or to rescue trapped wildlife (e.g. deer trapped in a fence).
Tell Congress that veterinarians need to legally be able to transport controlled substances to the locations of the animal patients, not only for the health and welfare of the nation’s animals, but for public safety.