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'''DEA Schedule II''' is the most restrictive schedule of the [[United States]] [[Controlled Substances Act]] of 1970 that still permits a substance to be prescribed. It holds the medicines of highest abuse potential that nonetheless have an accepted place in treatment, and it governs them with the tightest controls the Act applies to a prescribable medicine.

The five schedules were established by the Controlled Substances Act, enacted as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, which sorts every regulated substance by its potential for abuse, its accepted medical use, and the dependence its use may cause. Schedule II shares the high-abuse finding of [[USLegal:DEA Schedule I|Schedule I]] but differs on the decisive point: a Schedule II medicine has a currently accepted medical use, and so, unlike a Schedule I substance, it may be prescribed.

== Statutory and regulatory basis ==
Schedule II is defined at section 202(b)(2) of the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. § 812(b)(2); the substances currently in the schedule are listed at 21 C.F.R. § 1308.12.<ref name="csa">Controlled Substances Act, Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, Pub. L. 91-513. Schedule criteria at 21 U.S.C. § 812(b); Schedule II contents at 21 C.F.R. § 1308.12.</ref> Placement and rescheduling follow 21 U.S.C. § 811, on a scientific and medical recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services.<ref name="csa811">Controlled Substances Act § 201, 21 U.S.C. § 811.</ref>

== Criteria ==
A substance is placed in Schedule II on three findings: that it has a high potential for abuse; that it has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions; and that abuse of it may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.

== In practice ==
Schedule II prescribing carries the Act's strictest controls short of prohibition. A prescription for a Schedule II medicine may not be refilled: each fill requires a new prescription.<ref name="norefill">Requirements for a prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance; no refills permitted, 21 C.F.R. §§ 1306.11-1306.12.</ref> Prescriptions must be written or transmitted through a compliant electronic system; an oral prescription is allowed only in a genuine emergency, and a written prescription must follow within seven days. Movement of Schedule II substances between registrants requires DEA Form 222 or the equivalent electronic Controlled Substances Ordering System, and registrants must keep a perpetual inventory.<ref name="ordering">Order forms for Schedule II controlled substances; DEA Form 222 and the Controlled Substances Ordering System, 21 C.F.R. part 1305.</ref> Medicines in this schedule include [[Morphine|morphine]], [[Oxycodone|oxycodone]], [[Fentanyl|fentanyl]], [[Hydromorphone|hydromorphone]], [[Methadone|methadone]], [[Amphetamine|amphetamine]], and [[Methylphenidate|methylphenidate]].

== Medicines in this status ==
The medicine pages that carry Schedule II status are indexed here.

== References ==
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USLegal:DEA Schedule II - Revision history

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