Bills · 2013-2014 Regular Session
Relating to: misuse of a prescribed controlled substance and providing a penalty. (FE)
Drugs Drugs — Criminal acts and law enforcement Legislature — Criminal penalties, joint review committee on
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, a drug, or controlled substance, is classified into one of five
separate schedules. The classification is based on: 1) whether there is a currently
accepted medical use for the drug; 2) the drug's potential for being abused; and 3) the
nature of the psychological or physical dependence that use of the drug may produce.
Controlled substances that have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted
medical use are included in schedule I. Controlled substances that have an accepted
medical use and that have the lowest potential for abuse and produce the least
dependence when compared with other controlled substances are included in
schedule V. Under current law, a schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance may be
dispensed, but only with a prescription.
This bill prohibits a person from intentionally using a schedule II controlled
substance that is prescribed to him or her for oral ingestion in a manner that is
inconsistent with the prescribed usage. Under the bill, a person who does so is guilty
of a Class I felony and subject to a fine not to exceed $10,000, imprisonment not to
exceed three years and six months, or both.
Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime,
the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a
report concerning the proposed penalty and the costs or savings that are likely to
result if the bill is enacted.