Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act

In recent years, the phenomenon of controlled substance analogues and homologues has presented a most serious challenge to the control of drug trafficking and successful prosecution of clandestine laboratory operators. These homologues and analogues are synthesized drugs that are chemically and pharmacologically similar to substances that are listed in the Controlled Substances Act, but which themselves are not specifically controlled by name. (The term “designer drug” is sometimes used to describe these substances.)

The concept of synthesizing controlled substances analogues in an attempt to circumvent existing drug law was first noticed in the late 1960s. At about this time there were seizures of clandestine laboratories engaged in the production of analogues of controlled phenethylamines.

In the 1970s variants of methaqualone and phencyclidine were being seized in clandestine laboratories. By the 1980s, Congress decided that the time had come to deal with this problem with a federal law enforcement initiative. The Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act of 1986 amends the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 by including the following section:

Section 203. A controlled substance analogue shall to the extent intended for human consumption, be treated, for the purposes of this title and title III as a controlled substance in schedule I.

The 99th Congress went on to define the meaning of the term “controlled substance
analogue” as a substance:

(i) the chemical structure of which is substantially similar to the chemical structure of a
controlled substance in schedule I or II;
(ii) which has a stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system that is substantially similar to or greater than the stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogenic effect
on the central nervous system of a controlled substance in schedule I or II; or
(iii) with respect to a particular person, which person represents or intends to have a stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system of a controlled substance in schedule I or II.”

The Act goes on to exclude:
(i) a controlled substance
(ii) any substance for which there is an approved new drug application
(iii) with respect to a particular person any substance, if an exemption is in effect for investigational use, for that person, under section 505...to the extent conduct with respect to such substance is pursuant to such exemption; or
(iv) any substance to the extent not intended for human consumption before such an exemption takes effect with respect to that substance.

Treatment of exhibits falling under the purview of the federal court system is described in Public Law 91-513 or Part 1308 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Questions relating to controlled substance analogues and homologues can usually be answered by reference to the Controlled Substances Analogue and Enforcement Act of 1986.