Federal drug laws

Controlled Substances Act

Long title	An Act to amend the Public Health Service Act and other laws to provide increased research into, and prevention of, drug abuse and drug dependence; to provide for treatment and rehabilitation of drug abusers and drug dependent persons; and to strengthen existing law enforcement authority in the field of drug abuse.
Acronyms (colloquial)	CSA
Enacted by	the 91st United States Congress
Effective	October 27, 1970
Citations
Public law	91-513
Statutes at Large	84 Stat. 1236 a.k.a. 84 Stat. 1242
Codification
Titles amended	21 U.S.C.: Food and Drugs
U.S.C. sections created	21 U.S.C. ch. 13 § 801 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 18583 by Harley O. Staggers (D–WV) on September 10, 1970 Committee consideration by Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee Passed the House on September 24, 1970 (342–7) Passed the Senate on October 7, 1970 (54–0) Reported by the joint conference committee on October 13, 1970; agreed to by the House on October 14, 1970 (passed) and by the Senate on October 14, 1970 (passed) Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on October 27, 1970
Major amendments
Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date-Rape Prevention Act of 2000
United States Supreme Court cases
Gonzales v. Raich United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative McFadden v. United States

The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain substances is regulated. It was passed by the 91st United States Congress as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 and signed into law by President Richard Nixon. The Act also served as the national implementing legislation for the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

The legislation created five Schedules (classifications), with varying qualifications for a substance to be included in each. Two federal agencies, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, determine which substances are added to or removed from the various schedules, although the statute passed by Congress created the initial listing. Congress has sometimes scheduled other substances through legislation such as the Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date-Rape Prevention Act of 2000, which placed gamma hydroxybutyrate in Schedule I. Classification decisions are required to be made on criteria including potential for abuse (an undefined term), currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and international treaties.

The nation first outlawed addictive drugs in the early 1900s and the International Opium Convention helped lead international agreements regulating trade. The Food and Drugs Act of 1906 was the beginning of over 200 laws concerning public health and consumer protections. Others were the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938), and the Kefauver Harris Amendment of 1962.

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