Controlled
Substances Act (CSA)
[Contraband
(i.e., illegal to possess) Substances and
How “Classification” is Determined]
The
Controlled Substances Act (CSA), Title II
of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention
and Control Act of 1970, is the legal foundation
of the government's fight against the abuse
of drugs and other substances. This law
is a consolidation of numerous laws regulating
the manufacture and distribution of narcotics,
stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens,
anabolic steroids, and chemicals used in
the illicit production of controlled substances.
The
CSA places all substances that are regulated
under existing federal law into one of
five schedules. This placement is based
upon the substance's medicinal value, harmfulness,
and potential for abuse or addiction. Schedule
I is reserved for the most dangerous
drugs that have no recognized medical use,
while ScheduleV is the classification
used for the least dangerous drugs. The
act also provides a mechanism for substances
to be controlled, added to a schedule, decontrolled,
removed from control, rescheduled, or transferred
from one schedule to another. Punishment
for violations of the law are severe, especially
for Schedule I and Schedule II drugs, which
are “100% contraband” (Schedule I) or “conditionally
contraband” absent approved DEA use by those
holing a permit (Schedule II). See <http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/abuse/chap1/penal/chart1.htm>
Proceedings
to add, delete, or change the schedule of
a drug or other substance may be initiated
by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),
the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), or by petition from any interested
party, including the manufacturer of a drug,
a medical society or association, a pharmacy
association, a public interest group concerned
with drug abuse, a state or local government
agency, or an individual citizen. When a
petition is received by the DEA, the agency
begins its own investigation of the drug.
The
DEA also may begin an investigation of a
drug at any time based upon information
received from law enforcement laboratories,
state and local law enforcement and regulatory
agencies, or other sources of information.
Once
the DEA has collected the necessary data,
the DEA Administrator, by authority of the
Attorney General, requests from the HHS
a scientific and medical evaluation and
recommendation as to whether the drug or
other substance should be controlled or
removed from control. This request is sent
to the Assistant Secretary of Health of
the HHS. Then, the HHS solicits information
from the Commissioner of the Food and Drug
Administration and evaluations and recommendations
from the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
and on occasion, from the scientific and
medical community at large. The Assistant
Secretary, by authority of the Secretary,
compiles the information and transmits back
to the DEA a medical and scientific evaluation
regarding the drug or other substance, a
recommendation as to whether the drug should
be controlled, and in what schedule it should
be placed.
The
medical and scientific evaluations are binding
to the DEA with respect to scientific and
medical matters. The recommendation on scheduling
is binding only to the extent that if HHS
recommends that the substance not be controlled,
the DEA may not control the substance.
Once
the DEA has received the scientific and
medical evaluation from HHS, the Administrator
will evaluate all available data and make
a final decision whether to propose that
a drug or other substance be controlled
and into which schedule it should be placed.
The
CSA also creates a closed system of distribution
for those authorized to handle controlled
substances. The cornerstone of this system
is the registration of all those authorized
by the DEA to handle controlled substances.
All individuals and firms that are registered
are required to maintain complete and accurate
inventories and records of all transactions
involving controlled substances, as well
as security for the storage of controlled
substances.
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