The battle is over! For now.
Yesterday, Alabama lawmakers blocked the proposal to move Alprazolam into Schedule II, as well as blocking the other proposed changes described in this series of client updates. See here and here. The pharmacy community in Alabama took an active role in opposing these changes. According to this article
As an update to our January 9, 2017 blog post, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has continued with its efforts to make Alprazolam a Schedule II drug, along with rescheduling all other benzodiazepines from Schedule IV to Schedule III. The rule change would also reschedule pregabalin from Schedule V to Schedule IV
Alabama is considering making alprazolam a Schedule II substance under state law. Our colleague, Susan Trujillo, reports on this proposed rule which also proposes up-scheduling other benzodiazepines, pregabalin and zolpidem. DEA registrants are required to follow the stricter of federal law or applicable state law. Up-scheduling of controlled substances at the state level often changes