Introduction 7although Schedule I is often viewed as a list of the most dangerous drugs,
relatively harmless ones are listed if they are unapproved for medical use in
the United States, while drugs that can easily kill even when administered in
a hospital setting are listed in schedules indicating less danger of abuse. Still,
the general rule is that drugs are scheduled according to their abuse potential,
with drugs in lower-numbered schedules having more abuse potential than
drugs in higher-numbered schedules. Some illicit drug makers try to avoid
scheduling regulations altogether by tweaking the chemical composition of a
substance just enough that it is no longer the molecule defined in a schedule.
Such “designer drugs” remain legal until schedules are updated again.
Schedule I is for drugs ruled as being most prone to abuse, lacking generally
accepted use in the American health care system, and being so dangerous that
health practitioners cannot safely administer these drugs to patients. Except
for specially authorized scientific studies, possession of a Schedule I substance
is illegal under any circumstance. No physician can authorize a patient to use
a Schedule I item. Schedule II is for drugs ruled as being most prone to abuse
but in use in the American health care system and carrying the potential to
cause major physical or mental dependence upon continued usage. Schedule
III is for drugs ruled as being less prone to abuse; these are generally accepted
by the American health care system but pose risks of “moderate or low” phys-
ical dependence or “high” psychological dependence. Schedule IV is for drugs
ruled as being still less prone to abuse; these are generally accepted by the
American health care system and are less likely to result in physical or psy-
chological dependence than Schedule III substances. Schedule V is for drugs
least prone to abuse; they are generally accepted by the American health care
system and are less likely to result in physical or psychological dependence
than Schedule IV compounds.
This book’s alphabetical listings give each drug’s federal schedule status.
States also have schedules. At times, state and federal schedules may
not “match” for a particular drug. For example, under international treaty the
U.S. government putflunitrazepamin Schedule IV, but federal authorities
believed it should be Schedule I. So states have been encouraged to put the
substance in Schedule I. Sometimes federal authorities change a drug’s sched-
ule, and states may lag behind in conforming. For practical purposes, federal
and state schedules have equal legal standing. A drug user who runs afoul of
a state schedule can be punished as severely as a person who runs afoul of a
federal schedule. A further complication is that although a drug that is un-
listed in any schedule is presumed to be unscheduled, official pages of sched-
ules do not necessarily specify all scheduled substances. Sometimes the official
pages have not caught up with official decisions; sometimes a chemical is
covered if it is derived from a scheduled substance, without a separate listing
for the chemical being required. The list of sources at the end of this book
tells how to find the official pages of schedules.
For many years, stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens basically com-
prised the entire contents of schedules. In the 1990s another type of drug was
added, anabolic steroids. Various types of steroids exist. The anabolics can be
used to build muscle mass and have long been popular among athletes seek-
ing an edge in competitions. Anabolic steroids can have other effects as well,