NCJ Number
208691
Date Published
2005
Length
83 pages
Annotation
This report presents scientific information about illicit drugs in the United States and their regulation by the United States Government.
Abstract
The report begins with a description of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and how the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies drugs and controls their use by the public. Five schedules of drugs have been established by the CSA, depending upon the drug’s actual or potential for abuse, the evidence on the drug’s pharmacological effects, the current knowledge on the substance, the drug’s history and current pattern of abuse, the significance of abuse, risks to the public, the drug’s psychic or physiological dependence liability, and whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled. Following a description of how chemical control in the United States was initiated with the passage of the Chemical Diversion and Trafficking Act of 1988, the report presents an introduction to the five drug classes regulated by the CSA: narcotics, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and anabolic steroids. The remainder of the report presents recent scientific evidence on the various drugs found within each drug class, including codeine, heroin, methadone, cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturates, cannabis, LSD, and inhalants. The effects of each drug are reviewed, as well as any estimates of availability and cultivation in the United States and prevalence of abuse. The final chapter provides a listing of the National Guard Counterdrug Coordinators, the National Guard Demand Reduction Administrators, and the DEA Demand Reduction Coordinators. Exhibits, tables