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12 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 199 (2018-2019)
Getting Back on Schedule: Fixing the Controlled Substances Act

handle is hein.journals/aglr12 and id is 213 raw text is: GETTING BACK ON SCHEDULE: FIXING THE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT Joseph Hartunian* Federal drug policy has been the subject of much debate over the last decade, as the Obama Administration pushed for both executive and legislative branch changes' that scrambled typical partisan allies in Congress and reinvigorated a debate that had been happening mostly out of the spotlight. As the Trump Administration has moved to reverse and halt these changes, Congress has begun to show signs of life through attempts to address some of the numerous inefficiencies and shortcomings that have developed in the almost fifty years since the adoption of the Controlled Substances Act.2 This Note analyzes the legislative backbone of federal drug policy and argues for legislative and administrative changes that would lead to a more efficient, transparent, and standardized regime. I. INTRODUCTION In 1970, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).3 Signed by President Richard Nixon, the bill was designed as part of an omnibus package addressing the scattershot regulatory and administrative approach the federal government had taken to * Associate, Proskauer Rose LLP. Legislative Aide to Senator Charles E. Schumer, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate 2013-2015. Villanova University, B.A., 2012; University of Michigan Law School, J.D., 2018. Thanks to Conor McNamara, Professor Gabriel Mendlow, William C. Komaroff, and my friends at the Drug Enforcement Administration for their valuable insights, as well as the editors of the Albany Government Law Review for their hard work. 1 See Kasey C. Phillips, Drug War Madness: A Call for Consistency Amidst the Conflict, 13 CHAP. L. REV. 645, 670-71 (2010) (discussing efforts made by the Obama Administration to change the federal government's drug policy). 2 See James Cooper, The United States, Mexico, and the War on Drugs in the Trump Administration, 25 WILLAMETTE J. INT'L L. & DIsp. RESOL. 234, 284-85 (2018). 3 Controlled Substances Act, Pub. L. No. 91-513, 84 Stat. 1242 (1970). 199