2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 40:962 — Authority to control

§962.  Authority to control

A.  All controlled dangerous substances listed in R.S. 40:964 are hereby controlled.  

B.  The secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals shall add a substance as a controlled dangerous substance if it is classified as a controlled dangerous substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States government.  

C.  The secretary may by rule add to the schedules provided in Section 964 of this Part any drug or other substance if he finds that such drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse, and after such a finding by the secretary, the drug shall be added in the appropriate schedule under the criteria provided under Section 963 of this Part.  In making a finding that a drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse, the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals shall consider the following factors with respect to each drug or other substance proposed to be controlled:

(1)  Its actual or relative potential for abuse.  

(2)  Scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known.  

(3)  State of current scientific knowledge regarding the substance.  

(4)  Its history and current pattern of abuse.  

(5)  Its scope, duration and significance of abuse.  

(6)  What, if any, risk there is to public health.  

(7)  Its psychic or physiological dependence liability.  

(8)  Whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled by this section.  

D.  In an adjudication the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals may transfer a controlled substance from one schedule to another schedule upon the basis of a finding that the characteristics of the controlled drug or substances are such that under the criteria in Section 963 of this Part the controlled substances should be transferred or that a transfer of any substance listed under Section 964 from one schedule to another schedule should be made in order to conform with the schedule in which the drug is placed by the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States government.  

E.  If the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals designates a substance as an immediate precursor, substances which are precursors of the controlled precursor shall not be subject to control solely because they are precursors of the controlled precursor.  

F.  The secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals shall exclude any nonnarcotic substance from a schedule if the substance may, under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the law of this state, be lawfully sold over the counter without a prescription.  

G.  The reclassification of any controlled dangerous substance or its transfer from one schedule to another by the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals or the state health officer shall not affect the penalties provided by this Part.  

H.  If the scheduling of a substance in Schedule I is necessary to avoid an imminent peril to the public health, safety or welfare, the secretary may adopt an emergency rule adding the substance to Schedule I pursuant to R.S. 49:953(B).  In determining whether the substance poses an imminent peril to the public health, safety or welfare, the secretary shall consider the factors set forth in Paragraphs C(4), (5) and (6) of this Section.

Added by Acts 1972, No. 634, §1.  Amended by Acts 1977, No. 649, §1; Acts 1978, No. 717, §1; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 34, §2.