The war on drugs was officially launched in the ‘80s. Back then, the message was “Just Say No.” Yet, here we are, four decades later drugs are still a huge problem that plagues the United States.
As more designer drugs hit the streets, the federal government scrambles to keep up. While local police still arrest users and dealers, the government goes after those who traffick them. The thought behind this is that cutting off the supply will make it harder for the users and dealers to obtain the drugs.
Controlled substance categories
Over the years the Federal government has created a list of illegal drugs and assigned each of them a schedule. The schedules rank the drugs according to the severity of harm that they can inflict on individuals who use them. The current Controlled Substance Schedules are as follows:
- Schedule I drugs currently have no acceptable medical use in the U.S. Drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and marijuana fall into this category. (Though changes are slowly being made regarding medically approved marijuana use.)
- Schedule II drugs have a strong potential for abuse which leads to addiction. This category includes prescription pain medications such as Oxycodone and Morphine.
- Schedule III drugs have the potential for abuse but are not as likely to lead to addiction as Schedule I and II. This category includes drugs such as Tylenol with codeine.
- Schedule IV drugs have a lower potential for abuse than Schedule III. This category includes drugs such as Xanax and Valium.
- Schedule V drugs have a lower potential for abuse than schedule IV. This category includes drugs such as cough syrups and Phenergan with Codeine.
If you are accused of trafficking these drugs you will need some assistance when it comes to fighting the charges.