Title 21 › Chapter CHAPTER 13— - DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONTROL › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - CONTROL AND ENFORCEMENT › Part Part C— - Registration of Manufacturers, Distributors, and Dispensers of Controlled Substances › § 828
You must use a written order on a special form from the Attorney General to legally give or receive any drug listed in schedule I or II. Some actions are allowed without that order: exporting the drug from the United States under subchapter II, a carrier or warehouseman simply carrying or storing the drug in the normal course of business (but if that carriage or storage is used to send the drug to a third person the distributor still must follow the written-order rule), and delivery for disposal by an ultimate user, a long-term care facility, or a person acting under section 822(g). If you distribute under such an order, you must keep the order for two years and let authorized federal or state inspectors see or copy it. The person who makes the order must make a duplicate form at or before ordering, and if the order is accepted must keep that duplicate for two years for inspection. The Attorney General will only issue these forms to people registered under section 823 or exempted under section 822(d), will write the recipient’s name on the form before giving it out, may charge fees for the forms, and it is illegal for anyone else to use or give the forms to get controlled substances or to obtain those substances for anything other than lawful business, professional practice, or research.
Full Legal Text
Food and Drugs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
21 U.S.C. § 828
Title 21 — Food and Drugs
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73