How we check a drug's legal status

The four files behind every status

On October 6, 2026 we downloaded four sets of official documents and keep copies with the site's source files:

• The DEA list. "Controlled Substances - Alphabetical Order", published by the DEA Diversion Control Division, dated August 27, 2026. For each substance it gives the Controlled Substance Code Number, the schedule under the Controlled Substances Act, a narcotic flag and other names, including brands.
• The Home Office list. The UK list of the most commonly encountered drugs controlled under the misuse of drugs legislation, updated April 1, 2025, with each drug's class under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its schedule under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, plus footnotes.
• FDA-approved labels. For each medicine we chose one current label on DailyMed, preferring the brand maker's label when one exists and avoiding repackagers, and saved its sections on indications, boxed warning and drug abuse and dependence. The status box quotes section 9.1, Controlled Substance, word for word, and names the label, the company and the publication date.
• The federal rules. The sections of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations that say what a schedule means in practice (prescriptions and refills in part 1306, the schedules in part 1308, the label symbol in 1302.03), from the eCFR as updated to September 30, 2026.

A script reads the DEA and Home Office files and prints each drug's status box and the lookup table, so a schedule is never typed by hand. Writers worked only from these files and from official pages they opened on the same day (FDA, NIH, Federal Register, GovInfo, legislation.gov.uk, gov.uk). Every page lists those sources with the date they were accessed.

What we will not publish

• Doses, dosing advice or instructions for taking, stopping or combining any medicine.
• Anything about obtaining drugs, getting a prescription, passing a drug test or using drugs for their effects.
• Personal legal advice. The law described here is federal or national; state law and your circumstances can change the answer.
• Claims we could not trace to an official source. When a writer could not verify something, such as the year a drug was first scheduled, it was left out.
• Reviews, ratings, testimonials or stories about named people.

Why the US list and the UK list can disagree

They are different laws with different criteria. A drug can be federally uncontrolled in the United States and controlled in the United Kingdom (gabapentin), or controlled in both but at different levels (ketamine is Schedule III in the US and Class B in the UK). The site shows both side by side and never converts one into the other. The controlled substance guide compares the two systems.

Updates and corrections

Scheduling changes appear as final rules in the Federal Register and as statutory instruments on legislation.gov.uk. When the DEA or the Home Office publishes a new version of its list, we download it again, rebuild the site and change the dates on every page affected. If you find an error, write to [email protected] with the page and the official source; we correct it and say so in the page's update date.

How the site is paid for

By advertising, once Google AdSense approves the site. Ads appear in marked spaces separate from the text, and advertisers have no say over what we publish. The site does not sell medicines, does not link to online pharmacies, telehealth services or treatment centers for a fee, and does not take payment to mention any product. See the legal notice.

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