§ 44-53-480 — Enforcement.

(a) The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division shall establish within its Division a Department of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, which shall be administered by a director and shall be primarily responsible for the enforcement of all laws pertaining to illicit traffic in controlled and counterfeit substances. The Department of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, in discharging its responsibilities concerning illicit traffic in narcotics and dangerous substances and in suppressing the abuse of controlled substances, shall enforce the State plan formulated in cooperation with the Narcotics and Controlled Substance Section as such plan relates to illicit traffic in controlled and counterfeit substances. As part of its duties the Department of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs shall: (1) Assist the Office of Substance Use Services in the exchange of information between itself and governmental and local law-enforcement officials concerning illicit traffic in and use and abuse of controlled substances. (2) Assist the Office of Substance Use Services in planning and coordinating training programs on law enforcement for controlled substances at the local and state level. (3) Establish a centralized unit which shall accept, catalogue, file and collect statistics and make such information available for federal, state and local law enforcement purposes. (4) Have the authority to execute and serve search warrants, arrest warrants, administrative inspection warrants, subpoenas, and summonses. (b) The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall be primarily responsible for making accountability audits of the supply and inventory of controlled substances in the possession of pharmacists, doctors, hospitals, health care facilities and other practitioners as well as in the possession of any individuals or institutions authorized to have possession of such substances and shall also be primarily responsible for such other duties in respect to controlled substances as shall be specifically delegated to the Department of Health and Environmental Control by the General Assembly. Drug inspectors and special agents of the Department of Health and Environmental Control as provided for in Section 44-53-490, while in the performance of their duties as prescribed herein, shall have: (1) statewide police powers; (2) authority to carry firearms; (3) authority to execute and serve search warrants, arrest warrants, administrative inspection warrants, subpoenas, and summonses; (4) authority to make investigations to determine whether there has been unlawful dispensing of controlled substances or the removal of such substances from regulated establishments or practitioners into illicit traffic; (5) authority to seize property; and (6) authority to make arrests without warrants for offenses committed in their presence.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 1962 Code SECTION 32-1510.60; 1971 (57) 800; 1972 (57) 2396; 1974 (58) 2228; 1985 Act No. 143, SECTION 1; 1986 Act No. 404, SECTION 1; 2018 Act No. 216 (H.4487), SECTION 4, eff May 18, 2018. Code Commissioner's Note At the direction of the Code Commissioner, certain references in the S.C. Code to the State Department of Mental Health, South Carolina Mental Health Commission, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs Commission, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and other related terms were changed to reflect the restructuring of these agencies into component offices under the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, pursuant to 2025 Act No. 3, SECTION 18. Effect of Amendment 2018 Act No. 216, SECTION 4, deleted (c), eliminating the enforcement of drug laws as a function of the Department of Health and Environmental Control, and made nonsubstantive changes throughout.