Is a prescription reported to the road traffic office?

No automatic report

A prescription is not automatically reported to the road traffic office. The original narcotics prescription (Betäubungsmittelrezept) goes to the pharmacy that dispenses the medicine (KAV position paper 0025). Where a reportable medicine is prescribed, the physician also records treatment data for the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH, German: BAG), in pseudonymised form in its MeCanna reporting system (Art. 18f BetmG). Neither goes to the road traffic authority.

For the patient, the MeCanna record contains a patient code, year of birth, sex, weight and canton of residence, not the name (Art. 65a and 65b BetmKV). The data serve the scientific evaluation of the law and statistics (Art. 8b BetmG). More on this under reporting to the FOPH.

A right to report, not a duty

Road traffic law allows physicians to report to the cantonal road traffic authority that a person cannot drive motor vehicles safely. The authority can then order an assessment of fitness to drive, the Fahreignungsabklärung (Art. 15d para. 1 let. e SVG).

For such a report, physicians are released from professional secrecy. They may send it directly to the cantonal road traffic authority or to the authority that supervises physicians (Art. 15d para. 3 SVG). The law gives them a right to report, not a duty. A report concerns the question whether a person can drive safely; it is not a notice of a prescription.

Fitness to drive comes first

The rules on the road apply whether or not anyone makes a report. Anyone who lacks the necessary physical and mental capacity because of alcohol, narcotics, medicines or other reasons is unfit to drive for that time and must not drive a vehicle (Art. 31 para. 2 SVG).

For THC, zero tolerance applies: if it is detected in a driver's blood, unfitness to drive counts as proven (Art. 2 para. 2 let. a VRV). For people who can prove that they take it according to a medical prescription, the detection alone does not prove unfitness (Art. 2 para. 2ter VRV).

Driving a motor vehicle while unfit for reasons other than a qualified alcohol level, for example under the influence of narcotics, is punishable by a custodial sentence of up to three years or a monetary penalty (Art. 91 para. 2 let. b SVG). Driving a motor vehicle while unfit because of narcotics or medicines is also a serious offence under the licensing rules: the cantonal road traffic office withdraws the learner's or driving licence for at least three months, in addition to any criminal penalty (Art. 16c para. 1 let. c and para. 2 SVG).

In our practice

Our physician Oxana Smagulova discusses with you what a treatment means for driving. Whether treatment is an option is decided individually by the physician during the consultation. There is no entitlement to a prescription; the physician decides on the basis of the medical assessment. More on the rules in our article Driving with a prescription.