556Standing approval to prescribe controlled medicines for

556 Standing approval to prescribe controlled medicines for short-term treatment (1) A designated prescriber is approved to prescribe a controlled medicine for a patient of the prescriber during a short-term treatment period if— (a) the prescriber believes on reasonable grounds that the patient— (i) is not a drug-dependant person in relation to a controlled medicine or prohibited substance; and (ii) has not been prescribed the same controlled medicine by another prescriber in the 2-month period immediately before the day the prescriber prescribes the controlled (b) the prescriber has not prescribed the same controlled medicine to the patient in the 2-month period immediately before the short-term treatment period; and (c) the prescriber prescribes the controlled medicine for the patient’s use during the short-term treatment period only. Note For prescribing controlled medicines for more than a short-term treatment period, see division 13.1.3. short-term treatment period, for a patient to be prescribed a controlled medicine, means a consecutive 2-month period beginning on the day the prescriber first prescribes the controlled medicine for the period.