As much as I really can't stand Limbaugh ( I used to love him, before anyone really knew him much I caught him on an AM station out of DC and loved him), then when I became a parent and Limbaugh started bashing young Chelsea Clinton and saying nasty things about her, I began to dispise him, low and behold he turned me into quite a moderate and a liberal on some levels.

However, about Limbaugh I will say this, he had (has) a problem with drug addiction. For that I have sympathy for him regardless of how much I can't stand him. One of the few and very rare side effects of very very high doses of some synthetic narcotics is loss of hearing. It happened to him and fortunately for him he is a billionaire and could afford cochlear implants.

Anyway, the point about Soma and drug schedules.

It is illegal to possess any prescription drug without a prescription. At least in most states it is. Now I have been arrested for this when I was a freshman in college, I had a prescription drug in sample bottles without a prescription. The case was dismissed because the medication was given to me by a licensed physician and as long as he charted that he gave me the samples it was called an "Oral Prescription".

Common non controlled prescriptions like celebrex for example are illegal to possess without a prescription, it is like a class 6 misdemeanor in my state.... not much more than a traffic ticket.

Possession of a controlled substance without a prescription is a felony in my state, a class 6 felony though, so not a big one.

Federally controlled drugs under schedule I are totally illegal and "have no medical use or value" according to the DEA and possess a high potential for abuse. Examples are heroin, qualude, LSD, Mescaline etc.

Schedule II controlled substances have a medical use and value but a high abuse potential. One can no longer receive a refill but must have a written prescription. Except certain emergency circumstances one can not call in a schedule II medication into a pharmacy. Examples are Oxycontin, Percocet, Ritalin, Adderall, Cocaine (in manufactured pharmaceutical form), etc.

Schedule III controlled substances have a moderate potential for abuse and generally include narcotics like hydrocodone preparations with apap, barbiturate preparations with apap like fiorinal, fioricet, tylelol #3, Tylenol #4 etc. These can be called in to a pharmacy by your doctor if needed and do not have to be followed by a written prescription (yet??).

Schedule IV controlled substances still have an abuse potential but considered non narcotic mostly and have less abuse potential then a schedule III. Such medications that are schedule IV are the benzodiazapines like valium, xanax, librium, Soma in some states, Davorcet, Talacen, Nubaine (in some states only), phentermine etc. I think Provigil is a schedule IV but don't hold me to that.

Schedule V controlled substances are usually cough preparations with codeine and other drugs like an antihistimine or perhaps a decongestant or expectorant like guifenisen (worthless). Such drugs in this category also include mild narcotics for diarhhea like lomitil, paragoric as well as robitussin with codeine etc.

There is no such thing as a schedule VI, all other prescription medications are considered to be illegal to have without a script, althouth it seems rarely enforced.

Hope this clears things up. As I said earlier some states can under some circumstances schedule a medication if they believe it has an abuse potential in their region. As noted earlier Soma and Nubaine are two medications that are Schedule IV in some states but not federally scheduled by the DEA.

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html


PS: I still listen to Rush eventhough I really think he is mean spirited sometimes. While I am by no means a conservative anymore he does makes some good points and has some good information that is not partisan.