Controlled Substances Act
Regulation of therapeutic goods in the
United States
Prescription drugs
Over-the-counter drugs
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was
enacted into law by the Congress of the Un-
ited States as Title II of the Comprehensive
Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of
1970.[1] The CSA is the federal U.S. drug
policy under which the manufacture, import-
ation, possession, use and distribution of cer-
tain substances is regulated. The Act also
served as the national implementing legisla-
tion for the Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs.
The legislation created five Schedules
(classifications), with varying qualifications
for a substance to be included in each. Two
federal agencies, the Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration and the Food and Drug Adminis-
tration, determine which substances are ad-
ded or removed from the various schedules,
though the statute passed by Congress cre-
ated the initial
listing. Classification de-
cisions are required to be made on criteria
including potential for abuse (which is un-
defined by the CSA [1]), currently accepted
medical use in treatment in the United
States, and international treaties.
History
In 1969, President Richard Nixon announced
that the Attorney General, John N. Mitchell,
was preparing a comprehensive new measure
to more effectively meet the narcotic and
dangerous drug problems at the federal level
by combining all existing federal laws into a
single new statute.
Also during this time, Nixon commissioned
the National Commission on Marijuana and
Drug
Abuse—known
as
the
Shafer
Commission after its chairman, Raymond P.
Shafer—to study marijuana abuse in the Un-
ited States. During his presentation of the
commission’s findings to Congress, Shafer re-
commended
the
decriminalization
of
marijuana in small amounts, saying, "[T]he
criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to
personal possession even in the effort to dis-
courage use. It implies an overwhelming in-
dictment of the behavior which we believe is
not appropriate. The actual and potential
harm