Controlled Substances And Their
Classifications Explained, Kind Of
A controlled
substance is “a drug, substance, or immediate precursor that is included in
schedules 1 to 5.” MCL § 333.7104. The Board of Pharmacy
determines which drugs, substances, and immediate precursors are assigned to
each of the schedules. As set forth in MCL § 333.7202, the following factors are
to be used by the Board of Pharmacy in determining a controlled substance’s
placement on one of the five schedules:
1. The drug’s actual or relative potential
for abuse.
2. If known, the scientific evidence of the
drug’s pharmacological effect.
3. The state of current scientific knowledge
about the drug.
4. The historical and contemporary patterns
of the drug’s abuse.
5. The scope, duration, and significance of the
drug’s abuse.
6. The public health risk related to the
drug.
7. The drug’s potential for producing
psychic or physiological dependence liability.
8. Whether the drug is an immediate
precursor of another drug already regulated under the Act.
Schedule
1 Outlined:
MCL § 333.7211, requires that controlled
substance classified as schedule 1 drug must have a high potential for abuse
and either:
1. has no accepted medical use in treatment
in the United States, or
2. lacks accepted safety for use in
treatment under medical supervision, and it includes marijuana, opiates and
opium derivatives (e.g., heroin), hallucinogenics (e.g., LSD, peyote, mescaline,
and psilocybin), synthetic equivalents of the substance found in marijuana,
MDMA (ecstasy), BZP, naphyrone (“rave”), mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone
(“bath salts”), and other related substances.
Note: 11‐carboxy‐THC, “a byproduct of metabolism created
when the body breaks down the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana,” is not a
schedule 1 controlled substance because it fails to meet the requirements of a
schedule 1 controlled substance under MCL § 333.7212. See also People v Feezel.
Schedule 2
MCL § 333.7213 explains that a substance classified
as a schedule 2 drug must meet the following requirements:
1.
its potential for abuse is high,
2.
it has currently accepted medical use in treatment
in the United States or it has currently accepted medical use with severe
restrictions, and
3.
its abuse could lead to severe psychic or
physical dependence.
Schedule 2 drugs include opium and opiate and their
derivatives (e.g., codeine, morphine, methadone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone),
coca leaves and derivatives (cocaine and cocaine‐related substances), amphetamines, any substance containing
methamphetamine, and central nervous system depressants (e.g., methaqualone and
secobarbital).
Schedule 3
MCL § 333.7215, classifies a substance as a
schedule 3 drug if it meets all of the following requirements:
1.
it has less potential for abuse than the substances
in schedules 1 and 2,
2.
it has currently accepted medical use in treatment
in the United States, and
3.
its abuse could lead to moderate or low physical
dependence or high psychological dependence.
Schedule 3 substances
include certain stimulants and depressants, and materials, compounds, mixtures, or preparations containing
limited quantities of certain listed narcotic drugs, which can be found in MCL § 333.7216.
Schedule 4 and 5 decrease in the amount of abuse
that can be found with using the substances listed. The chemical compounds and
substances on these lists are determined by MCL § 333.7218 and MCL § 333.7220
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