PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

If a drug look-alike is meant for people to use, federal law treats it like a Schedule I controlled substance (the most restricted category). To decide if a look-alike was meant for people, officials can look at how it was marketed, labeled, or advertised; what it claims to do; big price differences; whether it was secretly imported, made, or diverted from legal channels; whether the seller knew people would inject, inhale, or eat it; or if it was made to evade drug laws. Just saying "not for human consumption" on the label, by itself, does not prove it wasn't meant for people to use.

Title 21, §813

Food and Drugs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

A controlled substance analogue shall, to the extent intended for human consumption, be treated, for the purposes of any Federal law as a controlled substance in schedule I.

(b)Determination

In determining whether a controlled substance analogue was intended for human consumption under subsection (a), the following factors may be considered, along with any other relevant factors:

(1)The marketing, advertising, and labeling of the substance.

(2)The known efficacy or usefulness of the substance for the marketed, advertised, or labeled purpose.

(3)The difference between the price at which the substance is sold and the price at which the substance it is purported to be or advertised as is normally sold.

(4)The diversion of the substance from legitimate channels and the clandestine importation, manufacture, or distribution of the substance.

(5)Whether the defendant knew or should have known the substance was intended to be consumed by injection, inhalation, ingestion, or any other immediate means.

(6)Any controlled substance analogue that is manufactured, formulated, sold, distributed, or marketed with the intent to avoid the provisions of existing drug laws.

(c)Limitation

For purposes of this section, evidence that a substance was not marketed, advertised, or labeled for human consumption, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish that the substance was not intended for human consumption.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Schedule I, referred to in subsec. (a), is set out in section 812(c) of this title.

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–271 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading, and added subsecs. (b) and (c). 1988—Pub. L. 100–690 substituted “any Federal law” for “this subchapter and subchapter II of this chapter”.

§813 Treatment of Controlled Substance Analogues