Title 21Food and DrugsRelease 119-73not60

§813 Treatment of Controlled Substance Analogues

Title 21 › Chapter 13— DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONTROL › Subchapter I— CONTROL AND ENFORCEMENT › Part B— Authority To Control; Standards and Schedules › § 813

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Any controlled substance analogue that is meant for people to use is treated as a Schedule I drug under federal law. To decide if it was meant for people to use, officials can look at things like how it was marketed or labeled, whether it works for the claimed purpose, large price differences, secret import or illegal distribution, whether the seller knew people would inject, inhale, swallow, or otherwise use it, or if it was made to avoid drug laws. Saying it wasn’t marketed for people to use alone is not enough to prove it wasn’t intended for people.

Full Legal Text

Title 21, §813

Food and Drugs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)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)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)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.

Legislative History

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”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

21 U.S.C. § 813

Title 21Food and Drugs

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60