As you have learned, the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies drugs into different schedules or categories based upon a drug’s accepted medical use and the drug’s potential for abuse. Some of these classifications have been challenged, and many state laws have legalized or decriminalized marijuana, which is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug alongside heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.
Respond to the following:
Review the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Schedule of Drugs Links to an external site.. Consider the criteria that is used to determine a drug’s classification provided on the DEA’s website, in addition to the effects of these drugs discussed in the assigned chapters in your text.
Identify and discuss the different criteria that are used to determine a drug’s classification by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Based upon your review of information, would you change anything about the drugs listed in category 1 of the drug schedule? Justify your response.
**NOTES**
Based on a drug’s need for medicinal use or likelihood to lead toward addictive or abusive behavior, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration developed a classification, or schedule of drugs, to lead enforcement activities for the criminal justice system. The schedule classifies drugs into five areas, with Schedule I drugs “defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and high potential for abuse” to Schedule V drugs defined as the least likely for abuse (Drug Enforcement Administration, n.d.). Substances that are used as ingredients to create drugs are also placed on the drug schedule based on their classifications.
Included in the list of Schedule I drugs are: heroin, LSD, cannabis, and ecstasy. Currently, the classification of cannabis, also known as marijuana, has created challenges for the criminal justice system and law enforcement. Despite the growing support of medical marijuana in many states, the federal government continues to classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug. Eight states and Washington D.C. have legalized possession of nominal amounts of marijuana, including recreational use (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2017). In addition, more than half of the states in the U.S. and the District of Columbia now have medical marijuana provisions permitting its use or decriminalizing its use to a civil infraction (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2017).
Levinthal, C. F. (2019). Drugs, society, and criminal justice (5th ed.).
Chapter 9: Opioids
Chapter 11: Marijuana
Chapter 12: Hallucinogens and Depressants
https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/drug-scheduling
http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/marijuana-overview.aspx
http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx
