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===Schedule 1 - CD Lic===
Drugs which are not used medically, and thus their possession and supply is prohibited; e.g. [[cannabis]] and [[LSD]] except when licenced by the Home Office to carry out research.
Cannabis when prescribed in the form of the licensed drug [[Sativex]] is subject to the same prescription requirements under the misuse of drugs regulations as Schedule 2 drugs. Its principal active cannabinoid components still remain schedule 1 substances.
Recently, in a report published in [[The Lancet]] Journal, researchers have introduced an alternative method for drug classification in the UK. This new system uses a “nine category matrix of harm, with an expert Delphic procedure, to assess the harms of a range of illicit drugs in an evidence-based fashion.” The new classification system suggested that [[alcohol]] and [[tobacco]] were in the mid-range of harm, while [[Cannabis]], [[LSD]], and [[MDMA|Ecstasy]] were all below the two legal drugs in harmfulness.
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===Schedule 2 - CD===
Substances subject to the full controlled drug requirements; e.g. [[diamorphine]] (heroin), [[pethidine]], [[cocaine]], [[methadone]], [[methylphenidate]], [[dextroamphetamine]], [[fentanyl]] and [[oxycodone]].
It is the prescriber's responsibility to minimize the risk of dependence or misuse by ensuring that such drugs are not started for a particular patient without good cause, that the dose is not increased to the point where dependency is more likely, and to avoid being an unwitting source of supply for addicts. The quantities of controlled drugs prescribed should match the likely needs of the patients until the next clinical review and prescription forms should be secured against theft.
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The safe custody requirements ensures that pharmacists and doctors holding stock of controlled drugs must store them in securely fixed double-locked steel safety cabinets and maintain a written register, which must be bound and contain separate entries for each drug and must be written in ink with no use of correction fluid. Disposal of expired stock must be witnessed by a designated inspector (either a local drug-enforcement police officer or official from health authority).
Until 2005 prescriptions for most schedule 2 & 3 drugs required certain details to be handwritten by the prescriber, unless he or she held a handwriting exemption certificate. [[The Shipman Inquiry]] however, found that this was one of the weaknesses in the audit system. Whereas computer generated prescriptions automatically left an audit trail which was easy to follow, handwritten prescriptions did not, even though all filed prescriptions are eventually sent to a central UK depositary. Therefore, good practice now calls for these prescriptions to be computer generated. <ref> Home Office (2005). [http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/home-office-circulars/circulars-2005/048-2005/ Explanatory memorandum to the misuse of drugs and the misuse of drugs] (supply to
addicts) (amendment) regulations 2005.No.2864. Accessed 20-10-03 </ref>
===Schedule 3 - CD No Reg===
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==References==
{{Reflist}}
* British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (March 2010). [[British National Formulary]].
* Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain: [http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/worldofpharmacy/useofmedicines/controlleddrugs.html Guidance on changes in the management of Controlled Drugs]. Accessed 2010-10-03
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