States Take Lead In Assessing New Drug Trends Idaho Conducts Research To Determine When A Prescription Drug Needs Tighter Controls

More often than not, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency leads the way in deciding which drugs are highly regulated.

But due to the massive effort required to get the wheels of the federal bureaucracy turning, the DEA can be slow to react to new trends or specific needs of the states. In those instances, especially in Idaho, the states can and do “schedule” drugs on their own, without waiting for approval or guidance from the federal government.

Richard Markuson, director of the Idaho Board of Pharmacy, takes a certain pride in the state’s ability to make its own decisions regarding dangerous prescription and illicit drugs. While the DEA places various drugs into one of five schedules - based on the potential for abuse and existence of legitimate medical uses - Idaho conducts research and studies of its own, and schedules dangerous drugs on the state level when it finds a substance deemed a problem among the populace, as it did with anabolic steroids.

The five schedules are divided with the most addictive substances with no medical value falling into Schedule I, such as heroin and crack cocaine, according to Markuson, and legal substances with the least addiction potential and most legitimate medical purposes falling into Schedule V.

At this year’s Legislature, Markuson and the Board of Pharmacy are proposing lawmakers put a prescription painkiller, carisoprodol, in the Schedule IV category at the state level, although the DEA has yet to schedule the drug. Carisoprodol is generally prescribed for pain and muscle spasms, Markuson said, and studies show it has become popular with addicts who abuse the drug for the effects similar to drinking heavily.

While the proposal, House Bill 456, would maintain doctors’ ability to give carisoprodol to patients, prescriptions would be limited to six months or five refills. Markuson said the pharmacy board began looking at the drug after a Boise girl died from abrupt withdrawal from carisoprodol last summer.

That incident, combined with increased abuse for illegitimate purposes, makes it a prime candidate for inclusion as a Schedule IV drug, along with valium and other prescription drugs with abuse potential, Markuson added.

“(Abuse) can result in seizures and comas,” Markuson said.

Normally the Legislature accepts the recommendations of the Board of Pharmacy and passes its proposals with little debate. But this year, there has been some rumbling that manufacturers of carisoprodol intend to lobby against the scheduling of the drug, Markuson said.

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