What is the 'Controlled Substances Act'?
The Controlled Substances Act was Title II of the 1970 Crime Bill. What it did was create five schedules for any substance, any compound, chemical compound, that the government wished to control in some way, to regulate. Strictly speaking, marijuana is not completely illegal. It is just highly, highly, highly regulated. It is placed in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act and there are possibilities for receiving marijuana, procuring marijuana through certain government means, through the National Institute on Drug Abuse, for example. So strictly speaking, marijuana is not 100% illegal, because there are certain uses for it, including the fact that the Government actually mails marijuana to five federally approved patients every month. The Controlled Substances Act creates five schedules, or lists, of chemicals. On this list, you might find GHB, the date rape drug. You'll find hydrocodone, you'll fine any number of drugs that might be considered dangerous. You'll also find your run of the mill, say antibiotics. The kind of things your doctor will prescribe to you. The things on the Controlled Substances Act are the drugs your doctor will prescribe you when you go and you're sick and you need something. Your doctor can only prescribe a couple of those categories of drugs from the Controlled Substances Act. Doctors are absolutely prohibited from writing prescriptions for Schedule 1 drugs. Marijuana is a Schedule 1 Drug. Because the Controlled Substances Act says that marijuana has no medicinal value, it has absolutely no therapeutic use, and is very dangerous, is what the government says about this.
