Before President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971 he enacted the Controlled Substance Act of 1970. The federal government uses the Controlled Substance Act to outline the drugs into five classifications or schedules. They are categorized by the level of dependency, abuse potential and their medical use. A doctor may choose to prescribe you a drug but regulations are set into place to limit them from the amount and dosage to avoid abuse and dependency to each substance. A doctor is registered with the Drug Enforcement Agency and given a registration number.
When prescribing a controlled substance the medical practitioners Drug Enforcement Agency registration number must be used to help keep track of the amount of each prescription a doctor is dispensing. Your doctor could prescribe any drug to you from schedule two, three, four, or five. Schedule one are the drugs that have been deemed to have no use in the medical field. No doctor will write you a prescription for a schedule one. They have the highest potential for abuse and dependency. Some of the drugs listed in this classifications include heroin, LSD, ecstasy and GHB.
These drugs you can get on the streets. They can be smoked, snorted, injected, or taken orally. Schedule one drugs are very dangerous and have high death rates among users. Many of the users of a schedule one drug experience loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. They also have an effect on the brain. Users will do tend to get paranoia, tremors, and fear among other things. They quickly learn to abuse these drug creating a need for more. Schedule one drug user face hard times in jail if caught with the drugs or attempting to get any.
It is very possible for a schedule one drug to become a schedule two drug as cannabis is making its way into the medical field now. Cannabis has been used in some states by medical professionals for successful treatments of nerve pain, seizure disorders, or crohn’s disease. Schedule two drugs have still have a high potential for abuse and psychological dependency but they have been found to have a good use in the medical field for patients. Some of the schedule two drugs listed are adderall, hydrocodone, dilaudid, and morphine among many others.
Many of these medication treat many different signs or symptoms for people. Schedule two drugs have requirements that need to be met for a patient to get their hands on one. The medical practitioner must feel that there is a legitimate need for the drug. They are responsible to the proper dosage to be prescribed. The prescription for a controlled schedule two drug must be written and signed by the doctor. The quantity of each drug is limited to a 30 day supply by the state and or insurance company. A ninety day supply may be filled if the practitioner has met a list of the requirements set forth by the DEA.
The pharmacy may receive and fill an order for a schedule two drug by the phone or fax but the written prescription must be presented within 7 days. Failure to do so will and the pharmacist will report the doctor and patient involved. Schedule three drugs have a lower risk for abuse and dependency among patients but are still abused. They are found common in the medical field and have a high use. Schedule three drugs included some of the following benzphetamine, phendimetrazine, ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone among many others.
These prescriptions must also be prescribed by your doctor. The prescriptions your doctors give you must be filled within six months of the date of prescribed. When your doctor is prescribing you one of the schedule three substance they may call the pharmacy for you and give instruction orally to the pharmacist and fax a copy of the written prescription to the pharmacy. A written copy would not then need to be presented in person to the pharmacy. Schedule four and five drugs are said to have a low risk for dependency and abuse.
Patients are often prescribed these drugs as they have een useful to patients. Some of the controlled substances listed in schedule four include Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, and Valium. Schedule five drugs are Poly-Tussin D, cough preparations with less than 200 milligrams of codeine or per 100 milliliters like Robitussin AC. Treatments or disorders like antidiarrheal, antitussive, analgesic, anxiety, and depression over long periods of time could lead to a dependency of these medications so close supervision by your medical professional is important when taking any controlled substance.
After a few weeks of being on one of these medications you could develop a quick dependency on them. Withdrawal from the drugs could result in weight loss, panic, nightmares, even muscle spasms or seizures. Many people have been forced to doctor shop after getting addicted to a schedule four or five drug and their original doctor refused to prescribe anymore. Schedule four and five have been said to be the drug of choice for many of Hollywood’s elite. They could be accessed online without a prescription illegally very easily with just a Google search.
If one is caught with obtain or distributing one of these controlled substance they will face jail time. Many steps are set in place to keep these controlled substances out of the wrong hands. Medical practitioners are required to keep records of each controlled substance they prescribe for a minimum of two years. Schedule one and two drugs are to be kept separate from schedules three, four, and five drugs. These records must be easily obtained in the result of an inspection done by the DEA. Inventory of each controlled substance must be taken at least every two years as well.
All records must be written and documented properly. The medical practitioner may dispose of any unwanted or damaged drugs carefully. They must give the controlled substance to an authorized registrant who is allowed to receive the materials called Reverse Distributers. Schedule one and two have different regulations for disposal then schedule three, four and five. All records of any disposal must be kept for a total of two years. Even though there are so many laws and regulations set in place for the controlled substance there are still so many people who are dependent and abusing them.