(a)

(1) The Director of the Department of Health shall cooperate with federal and any other state agency in discharging the agency's responsibilities concerning traffic in controlled substances and in suppressing the abuse of controlled substances.

(2) To this end, the director may:

(A) Arrange for the exchange of information among governmental officials concerning the use and abuse of controlled substances;

(B) Coordinate and cooperate in training programs concerning controlled substance law enforcement at local and state levels;

(C)

(i) Cooperate with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration by establishing a centralized unit to accept, catalogue, file, and collect statistics, including records of drug dependent persons and other controlled substance law offenders within the state and make the information available for federal, state, and local law enforcement purposes.

(ii) The director shall not furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject whose identity could not be obtained under subsection (c) of this section; and

(D) Conduct programs of eradication aimed at destroying wild or illicit growth of plant species from which controlled substances may be extracted.

(b) Results, information, and evidence received from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration relating to the regulatory functions of this chapter, including a result of an inspection conducted by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, may be relied and acted upon by the director in the exercise of the Department of Health's regulatory functions under this chapter.

(c) A practitioner engaged in medical practice or research is not required or compelled to furnish the name or identity of a patient or research subject to the director nor may he or she be compelled in any state or local civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceeding to furnish the name or identity of an individual that the practitioner is obligated to keep confidential.