DrugBuyers.Com: Question? What does C-III etc mean ?

... including fluntrazepam, BTW, which, thanks to the diligence of Roche lobbyists who don't want the world's #1 prescribed sleeping pill have its reputation tarnished any more than it already is, it remains a U.S. C-IV with the dubious distinction of being banned for import and any medical use (treating it as C-I), and imposing the incredibly harsh sentence for simple possession of three years in federal prison for "any amount." Yassir, simple possession of C-I heroin or LSD on a first-offense with no priors is just a federal misdemeanor with a maximum of one year, but Rohypnol can get you three years for having half a tablet of the world's most popular sleeping pill. So if you think the U.S. drug laws make sense, look up "cognitive dissonance." The schedule of a drug does not always correlate with the harshness of the penalties. A good example was just given.

Drug-by-drug penalties for various quantities are all spelled out in the federal sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums, which the states generally don't follow. Unless the crime occured on federal property and the state has no jurisdiction, almost all small-time drug crimes are prosecuted in state court. A few states have extremely harsh drug-crime penalties; New York and Texas are the two biggies (literally).

Federal courts don't have the time or money to waste on misdemeanors like simple possession, so those cases are almost always disposed before trial or handed over to the state. State courts often base the crime's severity and any sentencing guidelines simply on the state's own drug schedules, which can be higher than the federal schedule. For example, carisoprodol is a C-IV in a few states, and ketamine was scheduled in over twenty states before it was federally scheduled (by an act of Congress, not by a rulemaking). Ted Kennedy was leading the charge on that one, and when his "date-rape" bills kept dying, he tried to get the Massachusetts legislature to make it a C-I. There doesn't seem to be any difference between the tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee political partys when it comes to drug laws.

Trampy

P.S. re "I would apreciate a general description of this if you would be so kind ( and not from the FDA or D'E"A website). Thanks for tolerating my ignorance"

Ignorance is better tolerated if someone tries to learn as much as they can. For someone who doesn't understand drug scheduling, i suggest they start with the DEA and FDA web sites, because they are factual and correct and often try to explain things in a simple way. They have lawyers check the facts on everything they have on their web sites, and although they may not tell you the whole story, i've never seen either agency post false information on their sites. It would be a total waste of time for anyone here to repeat the basic information that they make available.