Controlled drug prescription requirements in the UK: a plain-English guide
6 November 2026 · 3 min read · By the PharmacySkills team
Controlled drug (CD) law turns up in the registration assessment every single sitting, and it turns up in practice every single day. The good news is that it follows a logic. Once you understand why the rules exist, the details are much easier to hold on to.
The short version: these are medicines with real potential for misuse and diversion, so the law makes prescriptions for the riskiest ones harder to forge, harder to alter and harder to stockpile.
The five schedules in one table
The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 sort controlled drugs into five schedules. The lower the number, the tighter the control.
| Schedule | Examples | In short |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cannabis (raw), LSD | No recognised medical use; a Home Office licence is needed |
| 2 | Morphine, oxycodone, diamorphine, methylphenidate | Full prescription requirements, safe custody, CD register |
| 3 | Tramadol, buprenorphine, temazepam, gabapentin, pregabalin | Full prescription requirements; some need safe custody; no register required |
| 4 | Benzodiazepines (Part 1), anabolic steroids (Part 2) | 28-day validity, but not the special writing rules |
| 5 | Low-strength preparations such as codeine linctus | The lightest controls; some can be sold over the counter |
What a Schedule 2 or 3 prescription must contain
On top of the usual requirements for any prescription, a Schedule 2 or 3 CD prescription must include:
- The patient's name and address. "No fixed abode" is acceptable for someone without a fixed address.
- The form of the medicine, for example tablets or oral solution. "Tabs" and "caps" are fine. Modified release needs to be clear.
- The strength, if the medicine comes in more than one strength.
- A clear dose. "As directed" is not acceptable. It does not need to be in words and figures.
- The total quantity in words and figures, for example "28 (twenty-eight) tablets" or "100 (one hundred) mg". This is the rule examiners love, because it is the one most often missed.
- The prescriber's signature and the date it was signed.
- The prescriber's address, which must be in the UK.
- "For dental treatment only" if a dentist wrote it.
- An instalment direction, if it is to be dispensed in instalments.
Why words and figures for the total quantity? Because "10" is easy to change to "100". "Ten" is not.
The 28-day rule
Prescriptions for Schedule 2, 3 and 4 CDs are valid for 28 days from the "appropriate date". The appropriate date is the date it was signed, or a later start date written by the prescriber, whichever is later. Any owing must also be supplied within those 28 days.
Separately, the Department of Health strongly recommends that no more than 30 days' supply is prescribed for Schedule 2, 3 and 4 CDs. This is good practice, not law, so a prescription for more is still legally valid if the prescriber can justify it clinically.
When you hand it over
- Mark the prescription with the date of supply at the time you make the supply.
- For Schedule 2, record the supply in the CD register, including details of who collected it.
- Ask whether the person collecting is the patient, a representative or a healthcare professional, and ask for ID where appropriate.
Common exam traps
- The total quantity is only in figures. Not legally valid for a Schedule 2 or 3 CD.
- Day 29. The prescription has expired, even for the balance of an owing.
- Emergency supply. Not allowed for Schedule 1, 2 or 3 CDs at the request of a patient, with one exception: phenobarbital for epilepsy.
- Schedule 4 and 5. The special writing rules do not apply, but Schedule 4 is still limited to 28 days.
- A different prescriber signs. Legally fine, but the address must belong to the person who signed.
Learn it properly
The Medicines, Ethics and Practice guide (MEP) from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is the reference to keep close. If you are building a revision plan around the exam, our guide to passing the GPhC registration assessment shows how to fit law in alongside clinical topics.
Sources: The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001; Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Medicines, Ethics and Practice (MEP); BNF: Controlled drugs and drug dependence; Home Office guidance on controlled drug prescriptions.
This article is for revision and education. Always check the current BNF, NICE guidance and your local policies before applying it in practice.