SB 259

Under existing law, certain controlled substances are enumerated in schedules by statute

Also under existing law, the State Board of Health adopts a Controlled Substances List that enumerates certain controlled substances in schedules and is required to update the Controlled Substances List annually

This bill would repeal the statutory controlled substances schedules and would provide that the Controlled Substances List adopted by the State Board of Health is the official list of scheduled controlled substances

Relating to controlled substances; to amend Sections 20-2-20 and 20-2-32, Code of Alabama 1975, to provide that the State Board of Health, by rule, may add substances to or delete or reschedule substances enumerated in the Controlled Substances List adopted by the board; to provide that the Controlled Substances List adopted by the State Board of Health supersedes the statutory schedules of controlled substances; and to repeal Sections 20-2-23, 20-2-25, 20-2-27, 20-2-29, and 20-2-31, Code of Alabama 1975.

Section 1

Sections 20-2-20 and 20-2-32, Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:

§20-2-20.

(a) The State Board of Health, unless otherwise specified, shall administer this chapter and, by rule, may add substances to or delete or reschedule all substances enumerated in the schedules in Sections 20-2-23, 20-2-25, 20-2-27, 20-2-29, or 20-2-31 pursuant to the procedures of the State Board of Health of the Controlled Substances List, shown as the Appendix to Chapter 420-7-2 of the Alabama Administrative Code. In making a determination regarding a substance, the State Board of Health shall consider the standards for promulgation established under Sections 20-2-22, 20-2-24, 20-2-26, 20-2-28, and 20-2-30, and all of the following:

(1) The actual or relative potential for abuse.

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

(3) The state of current scientific knowledge regarding the substance.

(4) The history and current pattern of abuse.

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

(6) The risk to the public health.

(7) The potential of the substance to produce psychic or physiological dependence liability.

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

(b) After considering the factors enumerated in subsection (a), the State Board of Health shall make findings with respect thereto based on these factors and issue adopt a rule controlling the substance if it finds the substance has a potential for abuse. The schedules of the Controlled Substances List adopted by the State Board of Health, included in the Appendix to Chapter 420-7-2 of the Alabama Administrative Code, in effect on the effective date of the act adding this amendatory language shall be the controlling schedule and shall supersede the schedules under Sections 20-2-23, 20-2-25, 20-2-27, 20-2-29, and 20-2-31. The schedules of the Controlled Substances List may be amended by the board as provided in Section 20-2-32.

(c) If any substance is designated, rescheduled, or deleted as a controlled substance under federal law and notice thereof is given to the State Board of Health, the State Board of Health shall similarly control the substance under this chapter after the expiration of 30 days from publication in the federal register of a final order designating a substance as a controlled substance or rescheduling or deleting a substance, unless within that 30-day period, the State Board of Health objects to inclusion, rescheduling, or deletion. In that case, the State Board of Health shall publish the reasons for objection and afford all interested parties an opportunity to be heard. At the conclusion of the hearing, the State Board of Health shall publish its decision, which shall be final unless altered by statute. Upon publication of objection to inclusion, rescheduling, or deletion under this chapter by the State Board of Health, control under this chapter is stayed until the State Board of Health publishes its decision.

(d) Authority to control under this section does not extend to distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco.

(e) The State Board of Health shall exclude any nonnarcotic substance from a schedule if such the substance, under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, and the law of this state may be lawfully sold over the counter without a prescription.

§20-2-32.

The State Board of Health, by rule, shall revise and republish the schedules annually or more frequently as determined by the board."

Section 2

Sections 20-2-23, 20-2-25, 20-2-27, 20-2-29, and 20-2-31, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to Schedules of Controlled Substances, are repealed.

Section 3

This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.