This bill was introduced by David P Roe (R-TN) on 3/15/2018. The full text of the bill has yet to be posted. The full title of the bill is:

H.R.5298 - To amend the Controlled Substances Act to deem drugs or other substances that act as opioid mu receptor agonists to be in schedule I, subject to exceptions for substances intended for legitimate medical or research use, and for other purposes.

We will provide an update when the full text is available. However, the general intent of the bill is stated in the title. Given the current opioid epidemic it is understandable that there will be bills introduced and passed to help deal with the problem.

This bill does raise a few questions. Since a number of currently available pain management drugs act as mixed agonists (working at the mu receptor, and the kappa and delta receptors), will all products that act as partial or full agonists at the mu receptor be classified as schedule I drugs. Schedule I drugs are controlled substances and the class includes heroin, LSD, marijuana, and peyote.

Drugs that act as partial or full agonists at the mu receptor include: butorphanol, pentazocine, nalbuphine, and buprenorphine.