Controlled Substances and Dangerous Drugs
What are Controlled Substances?
Controlled Substances are drugs for which there is a potential for abuse/addiction. Controlled Substances are divided into Schedules I -V depending on their medicinal value and potential for abuse.
- Schedule I Controlled Substances are considered to have no medicinal value and a high potential for abuse.
- Schedule II Controlled Substances have medicinal value but high potential for abuse.
- Schedule III – V Controlled Substances have medicinal value and lesser potential for abuse.
Some prescription drugs are Controlled Substances. If you use Controlled Substances in research, then you must follow the rules for Controlled Substances to obtain them. The rules for Dangerous Drugs only apply to prescription drugs that are not also Controlled Substances.
See this infographic for tips on managing your controlled substances.
Please refer to the DEA Researcher Manual for additional information.
What are Dangerous Drugs?
Under Georgia law, “Dangerous Drugs” are drugs that are available only by prescription from a licensed healthcare professional or the purchase of which is restricted to licensed healthcare professionals. Dangerous Drugs do not include prescription drugs that are “Controlled Substances,” i.e., drugs that have the potential for addiction/abuse and are classified as “controlled substances” under state or federal law. Dangerous Drugs also do not include over-the-counter drugs (including certain lower-dose forms of drugs that would be considered prescription drugs if they were in higher-dose forms). In this notice, we will use the term “Dangerous Drugs” to refer to prescription drugs that are not Controlled Substances.
See this list to review the designated dangerous drugs.
See the bottom of this page for more information about requirements and help!
Controlled Substances
There is a general list of controlled substances on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) website.
In addition, individual states can include additional substances as Controlled Substances over and above substances on the DEA list. Here is a link to the Georgia Code list of all substances considered to be Controlled Substances in Georgia: http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/gacode/.
On the home page click “I agree.” In the table of contents, type the following code sections individually into the search box to get information on what drugs are included in specific schedules:
- For Schedule I Controlled Substances type “16-13-25”
- For Schedule II Controlled Substances type “16-13-26”
- For Schedule III Controlled Substances type 16-13-27”
- For Schedule IV Controlled Substances types “16-13-28” •
- For Schedule V Controlled Substances type “16-13-29”
- For non-narcotic drugs excluded from schedules of Controlled Substance type “16-1329.1”
Dangerous Drugs
Here is the link to the list: http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/gacode. Click on the link. On the home page, click “I agree.” On the page with a table of contents type “16-13-71” in the search box, and then click on “search.” You will be directed to Georgia Code Section 1613-71. Click on the link for the section and you will be taken to the page(s) that list “Dangerous Drugs.” The list is very long. At the end of the list, you will see drug/dosages of drugs that are excepted from being considered Dangerous Drugs.