Bill Text: MS HB242 | 2013 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Controlled Substances Law; provide for emergency scheduling.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2013-03-05 - Died In Committee [HB242 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2013-HB242-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative Baker
House Bill 242
(As Passed the House)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-29-111, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE BUREAU OF NARCOTICS TO ORDER THE EMERGENCY TEMPORARY SCHEDULING OF DRUGS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES IN SCHEDULE I; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 41-29-111, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-29-111. * * *
The Commissioner of Public
Safety shall administer this article and shall work in conjunction and
cooperation with the State Board of Pharmacy, county and municipal law
enforcement agencies, the district and county attorneys, the Office of the
Attorney General and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. The State Board of
Health shall work with the bureau in an advisory capacity and shall be
responsible for recommending to the Legislature the appropriate schedule for
all substances to be scheduled or rescheduled in Sections 41-29-113 through 41-29-121.
In making a recommendation regarding a substance, the State Board of Health
shall consider the following:
(a) (i) The actual or relative potential for abuse;
(ii) The scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known;
(iii) The state of current scientific knowledge regarding the substance;
(iv) The history and current pattern of abuse;
(v) The scope, duration and significance of abuse;
(vi) The risk to the public health;
(vii) The potential of the substance to produce psychic or physiological dependence liability; and
(viii) Whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled under this article.
(b) After considering the factors enumerated in paragraph (a), the State Board of Health shall make findings with respect thereto and issue a recommendation to control the substance if it finds the substance has a potential for abuse.
(c) If the State Board of Health designates a substance as an immediate precursor, substances that are precursors of the controlled precursor shall not be recommended for control solely because they are precursors of the controlled precursor.
(d) If any substance is designated, rescheduled, or deleted as a controlled substance under federal law and notice thereof is given to the State Board of Health, it shall recommend the control of the substance under this article at the next session of the Legislature.
(e) (i) Authority to control under this article does not extend to distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco as those terms are defined or used in the Local Option Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, being Sections 67-1-1 through 67-1-91, and the Tobacco Tax Law of 1934, being Sections 27-69-1 through 27-69-77. It is the intent of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi that the bureau shall concentrate its efforts and resources on the enforcement of the Uniform Controlled Substances Law with respect to illicit narcotic and drug traffic in the state.
(ii) The controlled substances listed in the schedules in Sections 41-29-113 through 41-29-121 are included by whatever official, common, usual, chemical or trade name designated.
(f) The State Board of Health shall recommend the exclusion of any nonnarcotic substance from a schedule if such substance may, under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the laws of this state, be lawfully sold over the counter without a prescription.
(g) (i) If the Director of the Bureau of Narcotics finds that the scheduling of a drug or other substance in Schedule I on a temporary basis is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety, he may request that the Governor, by executive order and without regard to the other requirements of this section relating to the State Board of Health, schedule such drug or other substance in Schedule I. All FDA approved drugs for prescription only use and any nonnarcotic drug, if such drug may, under the Federal, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (921 USCS 301, et seq.), be lawfully sold over or behind the counter without a prescription shall be excluded from the provisions of this paragraph.
(ii) The intent of the Legislature in enacting this paragraph is to provide for emergency scheduling of drugs or other substances to avoid imminent hazards to public safety. The scheduling of a drug or other substance under this paragraph shall only be done by executive order of the Governor of the State of Mississippi, and shall be valid for no more than twelve (12) months from the date of issuance. Any orders under this paragraph shall be presented to the Legislature during the next regular or extraordinary legislative session as a recommendation for consistent action. If the Legislature does not enact such scheduling during the next regular or extraordinary session, then the executive order shall expire.
(iii) The Director of the Bureau of Narcotics, in determining whether there exists an imminent hazard to the public safety, shall seek the written recommendation of the State Board of Health. In making a recommendation to the Governor, the Director shall consider the following factors, with respect to each drug or other substance proposed to be temporarily scheduled:
1. Its actual or relative potential for abuse;
2. Scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known;
3. The state of current scientific knowledge regarding the drug or other substance;
4. Its history and current pattern of abuse;
5. The scope, duration, and significance of abuse;
6. What, if any, risk there is to public health;
7. Its psychic or physiological dependence liability; and
8. Whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled under this article.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.
