I’m just trying to clarify the rules about possession & ordering of various drugs in the US.
As I understand it, you can’t possess Schedule 2-5 drugs in the US without a prescription. Right? Once you have a prescription, can you order from anywhere in the world?
What about non-controlled substances? If I want to get my hands on, say, Prozac, can I order in the US without prescription? From outside the US without one?
What about non-controlled, non-FDA-approved drugs like adrafinil? As it turns out, adrafinil is non-scheduled, but it metabolizes to modafinil in the body, which is Schedule 4. Does that put possession of Adrafinil under the purview of the Analogues Act? How does the FDA Drug Importation Policy figure in this? Is it still applicable?
Thanks
Just FTR, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) which established the substance control schedules, actually does not require a prescription for Schedule V drugs–e.g. some codeine cough preparations and other milder narcotics. Instead, the CSA merely requires the buyer to sign a logbook.
However, most if not all states do require a prescription for Schedule V substances, and I’ve found that the pharmacy we go to makes us sign their log for any and all prescriptions.
I know very little about the specifics of the law, but I know you can’t get Prozac without a prescription in the US. When a drug’s patent runs out, it may be made by another company and sold under its generic name. In most cases, it will still require a prescription at that point. If a drug has proven itself to be very safe in widespread use, the FDA will sometimes lift the presciption requirement. Then, we call it over-the-counter, or OTC. Examples are Prilosec, Zantac, Naprosyn, Claritin, loratadine, and (I forget the name) the morning-after contraceptive pill. Offhand, I can’t think of any antidepressants or mood-altering drugs which have been made OTC.
First IANAL. However, I am a long time regular in the Usenet alt.drugs.* NGs, and am fairly familiar with this issue. It comes down to how US Customs works, and what the priorities of the government are. If a drug is controlled it is under DEA jurisdiction. If someone orders Valium from Thailand, the DEA is very much concerned whether you have a valid US prescription. Thus if Customs spots such a shipment, they’ll hold it until you can prove you have a prescription. And if the shipment is a huge amount of Valium, likely the DEA will get actively involved.
Something like Prozac is just under FDA regulation. It just ain’t a priority of the FDA to track down if someone ordering Prozac from an offshore policy actually has a prescription. If someone doesn’t have a prescription, theoretically this is illegal under US law. However, law enforcement in general tends to ignore truly petty violations of the law. If you drive just 3 MPH over the speed limit, odds are near certain a traffic cop will just ignore it if they spot it. Rather than pull you over, they’ll wait around watching for someone driving 20 MPH over the speed limit, or someone swerving all over the road who looks like they are a drunk driver. With a limited amount of traffic cops, it makes sense they focus on serious driving violations. Ordering Prozac from an offshore pharmacy is to the FDA the equivalent of someone driving 3 MPH over the speed limit. They lack both the resources and will to worry about something this petty.
This exact thing happened for years with ketamine hydrochloride. Even in large drug busts, ketamine had no more “punch” than amoxicillin. So, if someone were caught with cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and ketamine, the ketamine would not even be prosecuted. I used to buy (legitamitely) a case of ketamine for around $3.75 a bottle.
As more and more abuse of ketamine made the news, pressure to make it a controlled substance escalated. Still, it took years (from the 70s to the 90s) for any action on that front to take place. However, when it did and ketamine became a Schedule III substance, the price tripled overnight.