{ "id": "R45948", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R45948", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R45948", "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "date": "2023-01-19", "typeId": "R", "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/2023-01-19_R45948_01144fcf6a6eb193efe0f1017cacded8060e0814.pdf", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45948/4", "sha1": "01144fcf6a6eb193efe0f1017cacded8060e0814" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2023-01-19_R45948_01144fcf6a6eb193efe0f1017cacded8060e0814.html" } ], "type": "CRS Report", "summary": null, "title": "The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): A Legal Overview for the 118th Congress", "retrieved": "2023-02-19T04:03:46.368865", "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "id": "R45948_4_2023-01-19" }, { "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R45948", "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "date": "2021-02-05", "typeId": "R", "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/2021-02-05_R45948_947eb3c52b068a17dc7c223301e9d048aef26164.pdf", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45948/3", "sha1": "947eb3c52b068a17dc7c223301e9d048aef26164" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2021-02-05_R45948_947eb3c52b068a17dc7c223301e9d048aef26164.html" } ], "type": "CRS Report", "summary": null, "title": "The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): A Legal Overview for the 118th Congress", "retrieved": "2023-02-19T04:03:46.368155", "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "id": "R45948_3_2021-02-05" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 606067, "date": "2019-10-09", "retrieved": "2019-10-10T22:15:59.107429", "title": "The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): A Legal Overview for the 116th Congress", "summary": "The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) imposes a unified legal framework to regulate certain drugs\u2014whether medical or recreational, legally or illicitly distributed\u2014that are deemed to pose a risk of abuse and dependence. The CSA does not apply to all drugs. Rather, it applies to specific substances and categories of substances that have been designated for control by Congress or through administrative proceedings. The statute also applies to controlled substance analogues that are intended to mimic the effects of controlled substances and certain precursor chemicals commonly used in the manufacturing of controlled substances.\nControlled substances subject to the CSA are divided into categories known as Schedules I through V based on their medical utility and their potential for abuse and dependence. Substances considered to present the greatest risk to the public health and safety are subject to the most stringent controls and sanctions. A lower schedule number corresponds to greater restrictions, so substances in Schedule I are subject to the strictest controls, while substances in Schedule V are subject to the least strict. Most substances subject to the CSA are also subject to other federal or state regulations, including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act).\nThe Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is the federal agency primarily responsible for implementing and enforcing the CSA. DEA may designate a substance for control through notice-and-comment rulemaking if the substance satisfies the applicable statutory criteria. The agency may also place a substance under temporary control on an emergency basis if the substance poses an imminent hazard to public safety. In addition, DEA may designate a substance for control under the United States\u2019 international treaty obligations. In the alternative, Congress may place a substance under control by statute.\nThe CSA simultaneously aims to protect public health from the dangers of controlled substances diverted into the illicit market while also seeking to ensure that patients have access to pharmaceutical controlled substances for legitimate medical purposes. To accomplish those two goals, the statute creates two overlapping legal schemes. Registration provisions require entities working with controlled substances to register with DEA and implement various measures to prevent diversion and misuse of controlled substances. Trafficking provisions establish penalties for the production, distribution, and possession of controlled substances outside the legitimate scope of the registration system. DEA is primarily responsible for enforcing the registration provisions and works with the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice to enforce the trafficking provisions of the CSA. Violations of the registration provisions generally are not criminal offenses, but certain serious violations may result in criminal prosecutions, fines, and even short prison sentences. Violations of the trafficking provisions are criminal offenses that may result in large fines and lengthy prison sentences.\nDrug regulation has received significant attention from Congress in recent years, with a number of bills introduced in the 116th Congress that would amend the CSA in various ways. For example, after Congress passed several bills in recent years in response to the opioid crisis, additional proposals aimed at addressing the crisis are pending before the 116th Congress, including the John S. McCain Opioid Addiction Prevention Act (H.R. 1614, S. 724), which would limit practitioners\u2019 ability to prescribe opioids; the LABEL Opioids Act (H.R. 2732, S. 1449), which would require prescription opioids to bear certain warning labels; and the Ending the Fentanyl Crisis Act of 2019 (S. 1724), which would increase criminal liability for illicit trafficking in the powerful opioid fentanyl. The 116th Congress has also considered measures specifically seeking to address the proliferation of synthetic drugs that mimic the effects of fentanyl, including the Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues Act (H.R. 2935, S. 1622) and the Modernizing Drug Enforcement Act of 2019 (H.R. 2580). In addition, multiple recent proposals would seek to address the divergence between federal and state marijuana laws. For example, the Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019 (SAFE Banking Act) (H.R. 1595, S. 1200) would seek to protect depository institutions that provide financial services to cannabis-related businesses from regulatory sanctions, and the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act (STATES Act) (H.R. 2093, S. 1028) would amend the CSA so that most provisions concerning marijuana do not apply to marijuana-related activities that comply with state law. Other proposals, such as the Legitimate Use of Medicinal Marihuana Act (H.R. 171) and the Marijuana Justice Act of 2019 (H.R. 1456, S. 597) could address the gap between federal and state law in the area of marijuana regulation by moving marijuana from Schedule I to a less restrictive schedule or remove marijuana from the CSA\u2019s schedules. Finally, recent legislative proposals would aim to facilitate clinical research involving controlled substances, particularly marijuana. These various proposals raise a number of legal questions as Congress contemplates whether to change the laws governing controlled substances.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45948", "sha1": "dfd647ba42b37993081aff58b97b82b124058db9", "filename": "files/20191009_R45948_dfd647ba42b37993081aff58b97b82b124058db9.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45948_files&id=/0.png": "files/20191009_R45948_images_d7aaa42f1031cd3a8889e31266cdbc38d737aa15.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45948", "sha1": "f59e05867c4c5b509fce75057abea59db3b91c96", "filename": "files/20191009_R45948_f59e05867c4c5b509fce75057abea59db3b91c96.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4793, "name": "Drug Control" } ] } ], "topics": [ "American Law", "Health Policy" ] }