§ 5-64-201 — Secretary's duties

(a) (1) (A) (i) The Secretary of the Department of Health shall administer this chapter and may add a substance to or delete or reschedule any substance enumerated in a schedule under the procedures of the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq. (ii) The secretary may promulgate without action or approval of the State Board of Health an emergency rule under the procedures of the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq., that adds a substance to or deletes a substance from a schedule or reschedules a substance. (iii) If the secretary adds, deletes, or reschedules a substance through an emergency rule under the procedures of the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq., the emergency rule may be effective for no longer than one hundred eighty (180) days. (B) However, the secretary shall not delete any substance from a schedule in effect on July 20, 1979, without prior approval by the Legislative Council. (2) In making a determination regarding a substance, the secretary shall consider the following: (A) The actual or relative potential for abuse; (B) The scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known; (C) The state of current scientific knowledge regarding the substance; (D) The history and current pattern of abuse; (E) The scope, duration, and significance of abuse; (F) The risk to public health; (G) The potential of the substance to produce psychic or physiological dependence liability; and (H) Whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled under this subchapter. (b) After considering the factors enumerated in subsection (a) of this section, the secretary shall make findings with respect to the factors and issue a rule controlling the substance if he or she finds the substance has a potential for abuse. (c) If the secretary designates a substance as an immediate precursor, a substance that is a precursor of the controlled precursor is not subject to control solely because it is a precursor of the controlled precursor. (d) (1) If any substance is designated as a controlled substance under federal law and notice of the designation is given to the secretary, the secretary shall similarly control the substance under this chapter after the expiration of thirty (30) days from publication in the Federal Register of a final order designating a substance as a controlled substance unless within that thirty-day period the secretary objects to inclusion. (2) (A) If the secretary objects to inclusion, the secretary shall publish the reasons for objection and afford any interested party an opportunity to be heard. (B) At the conclusion of the hearing, the secretary shall publish his or her decision. (C) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the secretary is entitled to judicial review in the Pulaski County Circuit Court. (3) Upon publication of objection to inclusion under this chapter by the secretary, control under this chapter is stayed until the secretary publishes his or her decision or, if judicial review is sought, the inclusion is stayed until adjudication of the judicial review. (4) If notice has been given to the secretary that the United States Food and Drug Administration has designated, rescheduled, or descheduled a marijuana-derived substance under federal law and approved for marketing the marijuana-derived substance as a prescription medication, the secretary shall consider the designation, rescheduling, or descheduling of the marijuana-derived substance under this chapter. (e) Authority to control under this section does not extend to distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco. (f) The secretary shall schedule gamma-hydroxybutyrate and its known precursors and analogs in a manner consistent with the procedures outlined in this section.

Legislative History

Amended by Act 2019, No. 910,§ 4831, eff. 7/1/2019. Amended by Act 2017, No. 440,§ 1, eff. 8/1/2017. Acts 1971, No. 590, Art. 2, § 1; 1973, No. 186, § 1; 1979, No. 898, § 3; A.S.A. 1947, § 82-2602; Acts 2001, No. 320, § 2; 2005, No. 1994, § 302; 2011, No. 587, § 1.