This page is a reference to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970
Please note: This list is not intended to be exhaustive in nature. Be sure to check with you pharmicist for questions related to the classification of any medications of which you are not sure.
The drugs that come under jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) formerly BNDD and the Controlled Substances Act are divided into five schedules.
The schedules are as follows:
Schedule I Substances
The drugs in this schedule are those that have no accepted medical use in the United States and have a high abuse potential. Some examples are heroin, marijuana, LSD, peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, tetrahydrocannabinols, ketobemidone, levomoramide, racemoramide, benrylmorphine, dihydromorphine, nicocodeine, nicomorphine and others.
Schedule II Substances
The drugs in this schedule have a high abuse potential with psychic or physical dependence liability. Schedule Il controlled substances consist of certain narcotic, stimulant, and depressant drugs. Some examples of Schedule II controlled narcotic substances are: opium, morphine, codeine, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), methadone (Dolophine), pantopon, meperidine (Demerol), cocaine, oxycodone (Percodan), Anileridine (Leritine), and oxymorphone (Numorphan). Also in Schedule II are amphetamine (Benzedrine, Dexedrine) and methamphetamine (Desoxyn), phenmetrazine (Preludin), methylphenidate (Ritalin), amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital, methaqualone, etorphine hydrochloride, diphenoxylate, and phencyclidine.
Schedule III Substances
The drugs in this schedule have an abuse potential less than those in Schedules I and II, and include compounds containing limited quantities of certain narcotic drugs, and non-narcotic drugs such as: derivatives of barbituric acid except those that are listed in another schedule, glutethimide (Doriden), methyprylon (Nodular), chlorhexadol, sulfondiethylmethane, sulfomethane, nalorphine, benzphetamine, chlorphentermine, clortermine, mazindol, phendimetrazine, and paregoric.
Schedule IV Substances
The drugs in this schedule have an abuse potential less than those listed in Schedule III and include such drugs as: barbital, phenobarbital, methylphenobarbital, chloral betaine (Beta Chlor), chloral hydrate, ethchlorvynol (Placidyl), ethinamate (Valmid), meprobamate (Equanil, Miltown), paraldehyde, methohexital, fenfluramine, diethyipropion, phentermine, chlordiazepoxide (Librium), diazepam (Valium), oxazepam (Serax), clorazepate (Tranxene), flurazepam (Dalmane), clonazepam (Clonopin), prazepam (Verstran), lorazepam (Ativan), mebutamate and dextropropoxyphene (Darvon).
Schedule V Substances
The drugs in this schedule have an abuse potential less than those listed in Schedule IV and consist of preparations containing limited quantities of certain narcotic drugs generally for antitussive and antidiarrheal purposes.