Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Federal Controlled Substances Act: Schedules and Pharmacy Registration

2013; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 48; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1310/hpj4806-473

1945-1253

Michael Gabay,

Poisoning and overdose treatments

he Federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, more commonly known as the Controlled Substances Act, became effective on May 1, 1971. 1,2This federal law contains 3 different titles.Title I deals with the establishment of rehabilitation programs for drug abusers, Title II addresses the registration and distribution of controlled substances, and Title III discusses issues related to the importation and exportation of controlled substances. 2 The main segment of interest to pharmacists is Title II.This RxLegal column is the first of a 4-part series that provides an overview of key components of this important federal law.The goal of the Controlled Substances Act is to improve the manufacturing, importation and exportation, distribution, and dispensing of controlled substances. 1 To achieve this goal, manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers of controlled substances must be registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the agency charged with enforcement of the Act on the federal level.Registration of these entities with the DEA results in the formation of a ''closed system'' for controlled substances distribution.This closed system allows for controlled substances to be traced from initial manufacture to final dispensing to the patient.Controlled substances are generally defined as medications that are considered easily abusable.Under the Controlled Substances Act, these medications are categorized into 5 schedules. 1Definitions of each schedule with corresponding examples of medications are presented in Table 1.Schedule I medications have the highest abuse potential, while medications in Schedule V have a low abuse potential.In addition to the schedules, the Controlled Substances Act contains information on scheduled listed chemical products or SLCPs.These listed chemicals are products that contain ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine that may be marketed or distributed legally in the United States as nonprescription drugs.