the secretary of health and human services enforces the controlled substances act of 1970.
who enforces the controlled substances act of 1970?
secretary of health and human services
the united states first considered classifying anabolic steroids as a controlled substance in the late 1980s after a controversy over ben johnson's victory at the 1988 summer olympics in seoul. during deliberations, the american medical association (ama), drug enforcement administration (dea), food and drug administration (fda), and the national institute on drug abuse (nida) all opposed listing anabolic steroids as controlled substances. these organizations argued that use of these drugs does not lead to the physical or psychological dependence required for such scheduling under the controlled substance act. however, anabolic steroids were added to schedule iii of the controlled substances act in the anabolic steroid control act of 1990. the same act also introduced more stringent controls with higher criminal penalties for offenses involving the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. by the early 1990s, after non-medical use of anabolic steroids was criminalized in the u.s., several pharmaceutical companies stopped manufacturing or marketing the products. some brand names included ciba, searle, and syntex. in the controlled substances act, anabolic steroids are defined to be any drug or hormonal substance chemically and pharmacologically related to testosterone (other than estrogens, progestins, and corticosteroids) that promote muscle growth. the act was amended by the anabolic steroid control act of 2004, which added prohormones to the list of controlled substances, with effect from january 20, 2005.
ergogenic use of anabolic steroids
the uniform controlled substances act was drafted by the united states department of justice in 1969 and promulgated by the national conference of commissioners on uniform state laws while the federal controlled substances act was being drafted. modeled after the federal act, the uniform act established a drug scheduling system. every state has adopted the uniform act. rufus b. king, counsel to united states congress committees, notes that "it is provided that the state authorities must designate, reschedule, or delete substances whenever notified of such federal action unless they invoke an elaborate notice-and-hearing procedure to resist the federal ruling". thus, the uniform act completes a top-down system of control in which drug policy originates through the international legislative process of treatymaking and united nations commission on narcotic drugs scheduling decisions and is automatically implemented through controlled substances act provisions requiring federal scheduling of internationally controlled drugs, and uniform controlled substances act provisions requiring state scheduling of federally controlled drugs.
uniform controlled substances act