§956 — Title 21 Food and Drugs | U.S. Code

Summary

The Attorney General can make rules that let people carry certain controlled medicines (not including schedule I drugs) for their own medical use or to give to an animal traveling with them. To use this exception, the person must have legally obtained the drug and must say or report what the rules require. If a U.S. resident comes into the country through an international land border and does not have a valid prescription (or proof of one) from a practitioner (a person legally allowed to write prescriptions), they may not bring in more than 50 dosage units of that drug. The Attorney General can also make rules that exclude from these laws some compound, mixture, or preparation that contains a schedule III (parts a or b), IV, or V depressant or stimulant when the product also has one or more active medicine ingredients that do not act on the central nervous system and are mixed in amounts or proportions that remove the potential for abuse.

Title 21, §956

Food and Drugs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)Subject to paragraph (2), the Attorney General may by regulation exempt from section 952(a) and (b), 953, 954, and 955 of this title any individual who has a controlled substance (except a substance in schedule I) in his possession for his personal medical use, or for administration to an animal accompanying him, if he lawfully obtained such substance and he makes such declaration (or gives such other notification) as the Attorney General may by regulation require.

(2)Notwithstanding any exemption under paragraph (1), a United States resident who enters the United States through an international land border with a controlled substance (except a substance in schedule I) for which the individual does not possess a valid prescription issued by a practitioner (as defined in section 802 of this title) in accordance with applicable Federal and State law (or documentation that verifies the issuance of such a prescription to that individual) may not import the controlled substance into the United States in an amount that exceeds 50 dosage units of the controlled substance.

(b)The Attorney General may by regulation except any compound, mixture, or preparation containing any depressant or stimulant substance listed in paragraph (a) or (b) of schedule III or in schedule IV or V from the application of all or any part of this subchapter if (1) the compound, mixture, or preparation contains one or more active medicinal ingredients not having a depressant or stimulant effect on the central nervous system, and (2) such ingredients are included therein in such combinations, quantity, proportion, or concentration as to vitiate the potential for abuse of the substances which do have a depressant or stimulant effect on the central nervous system.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Schedules I, III, IV, and V, referred to in text, are set out in section 812(c) of this title.

Amendments

1998—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 105–277 and Pub. L. 105–357 amended subsec. (a) identically, designating existing provisions as par. (1), substituting “Subject to paragraph (2), the Attorney General” for “The Attorney General”, and adding par. (2).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Federal Minimum Requirement Pub. L. 105–357, § 2(b), Nov. 10, 1998, 112 Stat. 3271, provided that: “section 1006(a)(2) of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act [21 U.S.C. 956(a)(2)], as added by this section, is a minimum Federal requirement and shall not be construed to limit a State from imposing any additional requirement.” Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, title VIII, § 872(b), Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–707, enacted a provision substantially identical to that enacted by Pub. L. 105–357, § 2(b), set out above. Jurisdiction of Secretary of Health and Human Services Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, title VIII, § 872(c), Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–707, and Pub. L. 105–357, § 2(c), Nov. 10, 1998, 112 Stat. 3271, provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall not be construed to affect the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.).”

§956 Exemption authority