Talk:Controlled Substances Act

Why are the most addictive drug are placed on Schedule IV?

Out off all psychiatric medications, Benzodiazepines and some barbiturates are the most addictive and develop a very high dependence potential when prescribed. However, some non-addictive medications such as Methylphenidate or Ketamine are placed on Schedule II and III. According to citations from the drug articles, some medications such as the ones placed on Scheduled II and III do not produce an addictive potential in low doses when prescribed.

Usually, addictive medications are strictly controlled than those of Schedule IV. I am very confused. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 00AgentBond93 (talk • contribs) 20:55, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

The CSA is the primary legal munition for the "War on Drugs", which is a facade for what should really be called the "War on Minority Groups the Government is Not Fond". Placement within the schedule is purely political. Schedule I is reserved for drugs associated with minority groups the government wanted to control (in 1970) -- "marihuana" for Latin Americans, heroin for African Americans, LSD for the hippies, etc. Drugs are placed based on how dangerous they are for the government, not for their users. Schedule II contains the drugs that they want to put into Schedule I, many which most people believe are illegal street drugs, but unfortunately have undeniable medical value (cocaine, morphine, codeine, opium, oxycodone, fentanyl, PCP, Ritalin, methamphetamine, etc). Schedule III mostly contains drugs that the government doesn't like, but are of somewhat less concern than Schedule II. Not a lot of people need them, so they are more restricted. Schedule IV contains highly prescribed medications that are highly addictive. The reason they less controlled is because so many people legitimately need to take them to function in modern society, and would cause problems if not properly sedated. Schedule V shouldn't even exist. It's there for "monitoring purposes".

To summarize, the more likely for a substance to cause a person to deviate from being what the state defines as an "upstanding, law abiding citizen", the closer to Schedule I it will be placed, and the more likely for a substance to cause a person to shut up and stay in their place, the closer to Schedule IV it will be placed. Thoric (talk) 23:55, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for the explanation, because it does not make sense, like: "Cannabidiol, only in a marijuana-derived pharmaceutical formulation marketed by GW Pharmaceuticals as Epidiolex. Other CBD formulations remain Schedule 1, except for those derived from hemp which are unscheduled but still FDA-regulated.[55]", So it is "schedule 1 or 5, or unscheduled, depending on our mood when we get up in the morning." The same with some things in schedule 1, instead of listing the actual serious dependency or harm, if there are any, the explanation is just empty with "just because". Other than that... metabolic precursors of schedule-1 substances are... unscheduled. What the heck? None of the schedule list makes medical sense, I guess the list is purely based on economical metrics, such as how much black market there is for the substance, etc. Which makes sense, with LSD it would be 300000 USD per gram. And as someone else said, I'd like to see the phase-out of benzodiazepines and opioids and opiates into more controlled categories, where they belong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.64.7.200 (talk) 17:39, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Capstone Course in American Politics

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 1 September 2022 and 13 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Altair09a (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Altair09a (talk) 03:13, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

citation #48 bad gateway

Citation #48 leads to a 404 not found page, not sure where else this info could be found. Cited info is found in the ‘Schedules of controlled substances’ section. 131.128.73.134 (talk) 17:37, 2 March 2023 (UTC)

My recent edit.

The article has not been edited for more than two years. I hope my edit improved it, but it still needs a lot more work. Rick Norwood (talk) 19:38, 3 December 2025 (UTC)