The topic of recreational drug use can be a hot button one in Omaha and throughout the rest of the United States. On one side, some may argue that people should be free to do what they please provided it causes no physical or financial harm to others. On the other, there are those who point out that abusing drugs makes one a danger to both him or herself and others. Just how common is drug use in the U.S.? According to data shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 10 percent of the population over the age of 12 admits to doing it.
The law does recognize that some substances are more harmful than others. Thus, drug schedules have been created to classify illicit controlled substances. These schedules are broken down into five categories, whose classifications are as follows:
- Schedule 1: Drugs with a high potential for abuse that have no current medical uses in the U.S.
- Schedule 2: Drugs with a high potential for abuse that have some approved medical uses (albeit with severe restrictions) that also present a high probability of developing a dependence
- Schedule 3: Drugs with less potential for abuse than those in Schedules 1 and 2, that have approved medical uses and present a moderate to low risk of dependency
- Schedule 4: Drugs with a low potential for abuse that have approved medical uses and present a limited risk of dependency
- Schedule 5: Drugs with the least potential for abuse
Nebraska officials determine which drugs go into which or the state's drug schedules. Some of the more common include heroin (Schedule 1), cocaine (Schedule 2), methamphetamine (Schedule 1), ephedrine (Schedule 4), and marijuana (Schedule 1). The criminal penalties associated with the possession, use and/or distribution of these drugs depends on the schedules in which they fall.