(a) The Department of Public Safety shall maintain and keep confidential, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and except for purposes of a prosecution for false swearing under 13 V.S.A. § 2904, the records of all persons registered under this subchapter or registered caregivers in a secure database accessible by authorized Department of Public Safety employees only.

(b) In response to a person-specific or property-specific inquiry by a law enforcement officer or agency made in the course of a bona fide investigation or prosecution, the Department may verify the identities and registered property addresses of the registered patient and the patient's registered caregiver, a dispensary, and an owner, a principal, a financier, and the employees of a dispensary.

(c) The Department shall maintain a separate secure electronic database accessible to law enforcement personnel 24 hours a day that uses a unique identifier system to allow law enforcement to verify that a person or entity is a registered patient, a registered caregiver, a dispensary, an owner, a principal, a financier, or an employee of a dispensary.

(d) The Department of Public Safety shall implement the requirements of this subchapter. The Department may adopt rules under 3 V.S.A. chapter 25 and shall develop forms to implement this subchapter.

(e) The Department shall adopt rules for the issuance of a caregiver Registry identification card that shall include standards for approval or denial of an application based on an individual's criminal history record. The rules shall address whether an applicant who has been convicted of an offense listed in subsection 4474g(e) of this title or 13 V.S.A. chapter 28 has been rehabilitated and should be otherwise eligible for a caregiver registry identification card.

(f) The Department shall adopt rules establishing protocols for the safe delivery of marijuana to patients and caregivers.

(g) The Department shall adopt rules for granting a waiver of the dispensary possession limits in section 4474e of this title upon application of a dispensary for the purpose of developing and providing a product for symptom relief to a registered patient who is under 18 years of age who suffers from seizures. (Added 2003, No. 135 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2011, No. 65, § 1, eff. June 2, 2011; 2013, No. 155 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. May 27, 2014; 2017, No. 65, § 4; 2017, No. 113 (Adj. Sess.), § 88.)