Opinion ID: 1703923
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: delegation to the board of pharmacy

Text: Defendant challenges the controlled substances act as an unconstitutional delegation of authority in that the Legislature failed to provide sufficient safeguards to prevent an abuse of legislative power. Defendant asserts that the standards provided in the act are deficient for two reasons. First, the standards fail to avoid a separation of powers problem: the final scheduling decision, he argues, is a policy determination improperly left to the discretion of the administrative agency rather than the Legislature. Second, or perhaps as a corollary to the first allegation, defendant asserts that the unfettered scheduling discretion of the agency is devoid of due process protection. We disagree with both conclusions. The criteria this Court has utilized in evaluating legislative standards are set forth in Dep't of Natural Resources v Seaman, 396 Mich 299, 309; 240 NW2d 206 (1976): While no hard and fast rule exists for determining whether a given statute has provided sufficient standards, a number of guiding principles have evolved in Michigan jurisprudence to assist in making a determination in this case. First, the act in question must be read as a whole; the provision in question should not be isolated but must be construed with reference to the entire act. Argo Oil Corp v Atwood [274 Mich 47, 53; 264 NW 285 (1935)]. Second, the standard should be as reasonably precise as the subject matter requires or permits'. Osius v St Clair Shores, 344 Mich 693, 698; 75 NW2d 25; 58 ALR2d 1079 (1956).[7] The preciseness of the standard will vary with the complexity and/or the degree to which subject regulated will require constantly changing regulation.    Third, if possible the statute must be construed in such a way as to `render it valid, not invalid', as conferring `administrative, not legislative' power and as vesting `discretionary, not arbitrary, authority'. Argo Oil Corp v Atwood, supra, 53. Footnote 7 amplifies the second principle: A standard cannot be considered `as reasonably precise as the subject matter requires or permits' if it does not satisfy due process requirements. See decision in State Highway Comm v Vanderkloot, 392 Mich 159, 169-178; 220 NW2d 416 (1974).
The first principle requires that the controlled substances act be read in its entirety to determine if the Legislature has provided sufficient guidelines to direct and constrain the agency's exercise of the delegated authority. Guidelines for the Board of Pharmacy are incorporated in appropriate sections of the statute. The controlled substances act establishes a comprehensive catalog of offenses and penalties relating to controlled substances. MCL 333.7401-333.7408, 333.7410; MSA 14.15(7401)-14.15(7408), 14.15(7410). The act also establishes five schedules of controlled substances. These schedules, initially formulated by the Legislature, rank the substances according to potential for abuse. The Legislature prescribed penalties for the controlled substances offenses on the basis of a combination of three factors: the nature of the conduct and the classification and amount of the substance involved. The act grants the administrator, defined by MCL 333.7103; MSA 14.15(7103) as the Michigan board of pharmacy or its designated or established authority, the power to modify the original schedules established by the Legislature. MCL 333.7201; MSA 14.15(7201). The eight-member board shall consist of six registered pharmacists licensed in the state for at least two years and two representatives of the general public. MCL 333.17721; MSA 14.15(17721), MCL 333.16135; MSA 14.15(16135). Before any substance is added to, deleted from, or reclassified among the schedules, the board must consider each of eight factors: (a) The actual or relative potential for abuse. (b) The scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known. (c) The state of current scientific knowledge regarding the substance. (d) The history and current pattern of abuse. (e) The scope, duration, and significance of abuse. (f) The risk to the public health. (g) The potential of the substance to produce psychic or physiological dependence liability. (h) Whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled under this article. MCL 333.7202; MSA 14.15(7202). In order to assist consideration of each factor, the statute also establishes a scientific advisory commission. MCL 333.7206; MSA 14.15(7206). The seven-member commission consists of two physicians, two pharmacists, the chief of the crime detection laboratory of the Department of Public Health, the director of mental health, and the director of state police. The board must receive this commission's recommendation, although it is not bound by its suggestions. With regard to each schedule, the board may include a substance on a specific schedule only after the board finds it to possess certain characteristics. For example, a substance may be placed on schedule 3 only if the board finds all of the following: (a) The substance has a potential for abuse less than the substances listed in schedules 1 and 2. (b) The substance has currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. (c) Abuse of the substance may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence. MCL 333.7215; MSA 14.15(7215). These provisions clearly provide a proper framework to guide and direct agency action. The legislative policy expressed in the statute is apparent: controlled substance offenses are to be graduated in severity according to the dangerousness of the drug involved and its potential for abuse. Classification of the substances is placed in an agency with the technical expertise to make the necessary factual evaluation, and access to relevant information is provided. Numerous guidelines direct the board's evaluation. These provisions insure that the legislative policy expressed in the act will be given effect and substance through the agency's factual evaluation. Given the Legislature's clearly articulated policy, we must reject the defendant's argument that the statutory provisions leave the final scheduling conclusion to a policy determination by the Board of Pharmacy. In this statutory scheme, the agency makes factual findings regarding abuse potential and potency of drugs, compares these factual findings to the scheduling criteria established by the Legislature, and thereby locates the appropriate classification of the substance. Thus, the Board of Pharmacy functions as a factfinder; the Legislature retains the policy-making control. Addressing the second principle, the defendant concedes that [t]he standards, in and of themselves, appear as reasonably precise as the subject matter of the legislation requires or permits. We agree. Our previous examination of the statute revealed that the Legislature provided clear, detailed standards to guide agency action and to facilitate judicial review. Further, we note that the rapid rate at which new drugs are developed and introduced and the incredible ingenuity exhibited in the discovery of novel methods to abuse drugs necessitates a measure of flexibility in the area of drug regulation. See State v Kellogg, 98 Idaho 541, 543-544; 568 P2d 514 (1977); State v Sargent, 252 Or 579; 449 P2d 845 (1969). Additionally, inclusion of the Administrative Procedures Act provisions as mandatory procedures to be followed in the board's rulemaking further insures against possible abuse of delegated power by the Board of Pharmacy. MCL 333.7201; MSA 14.15(7201). Therefore, consonant with the third principle of preferring a valid to an invalid result, we conclude that the delegation of authority to the Board of Pharmacy is valid and constitutes neither an unconstitutional delegation of authority nor allows the board to act in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner. [4]
Defendant also argues that regardless how stringent the standards set by the Legislature, this delegation of power must fail. According to defendant, the creation of crimes, and more specifically of felony offenses, is an inherently legislative task which may not be delegated. As a threshold matter, we recognize that some legislative powers are simply not delegable. Though not specifically mandated by any constitutional provision, this prohibition arises from the basic structure of the government. Certain powers of the legislative branch require exercise by the Senate or the House of Representatives, or both, in order for their purposes to be served. For example, Const 1963, art 11, § 7 grants to the House of Representatives the power to impeach civil officers and to prosecute the impeachment. For the House to assign this impeachment power to a commission or agency would violate the spirit and the principle of art 11, § 7. Here, the nature of the function within the constitutional framework of the government precludes delegation. However, the complexities of modern government necessitate that today many facets of traditionally legislative power be exercised by administrative agencies. Provided that sufficient standards and safeguards, as discussed above, are provided to circumscribe the agencies' use of legislative power, thereby insuring effectuation of legislatively declared policies and a means to check agency action, such delegation of legislative power has been sanctioned repeatedly by this and other courts. See 1 Davis, Administrative Law, § 2.10, p 113, and § 2.04, p 30 (1976 Supp). Defendant correctly notes, and we agree, that the creation of crimes is an inherently legislative task. See United States v Wiltberger, 18 US (5 Wheat) 76, 95; 5 L Ed 37 (1820); 21 Am Jur 2d, Criminal Law, § 11, p 124; 1 Wharton, Criminal Law (C. Torcia ed), § 10, pp 31-32. As stated in People v Hanrahan, 75 Mich 611, 619; 42 NW 1124 (1889): To declare what shall constitute a crime, and how it shall be punished, is an exercise of the sovereign power of a state, and is inherent in the legislative department of the government. However, the standard of review of legislative delegation does not differ when the statute involves criminal sanctions. The Legislature is not precluded from including penal sanctions in a statute which declares a legislative policy, articulates guidelines to effectuate the policy, and authorizes an executive agency to implement its purpose. Review of this Court's cases which scrutinized the Legislature's delegation of power to create crimes reveals that such delegation has been permitted if sufficient safeguards protect the public from arbitrary and capricious abuses of delegated discretion. [5] In Senate of the Happy Homes Club of America v Alpena Board of Supervisors, 99 Mich 117; 57 NW 1101 (1894), the Court held unconstitutional a legislative scheme whereby persons arrested for drunkenness would be acquitted upon completion of a private alcohol rehabilitation program. Since each private program could enforce its own rules  as stringent or as lenient as it chose  and compliance with these varying rules automatically resulted in acquittal, the Court found that the Legislature had delegated to private corporations the power to acquit criminals, and thus to enact criminal law. This complete abdication of the legislative role and failure to insure any degree of accountability in the creation of crimes was held unconstitutional. On the other hand, statutory arrangements in which the Legislature provides regulatory guidelines for a subject area and prescribes penalties for violations of rules to be promulgated by an agency placed in charge of the regulatory activity have been approved by the Court. Thus, in People v Soule, 238 Mich 130; 213 NW 195 (1927), the Court reviewed an act which gave the commission of conservation the power to declare open season for birds, fish, and fur-bearing animals. The Legislature had declared that the commission was to regulate the wildlife of the state. Procedures were set forth to promulgate the rules, and penalties (including incarceration) were established for violation of properly promulgated rules. The Court found that this delegation of rulemaking power with attached criminal penalties included sufficient safeguards to avoid a separation of powers challenge. Pragmatically, the Court recognized that management of the state's natural resources required consideration of voluminous data; practical necessity dictated that evaluation of these facts should be left to an executive agency with considerable expertise. This Court concluded: Where the statute provides a punishment for violating the regulations or orders of a commission, the power to create a crime is not delegated to the commission. Id., 139. Therefore, the fact that the agency's rulemaking could have direct penal consequences did not invalidate the delegation of authority. See also Westervelt v Natural Resources Comm, 402 Mich 412; 263 NW2d 564 (1978); Dep't of Natural Resources v Seaman, supra . These cases indicate that the power to define crimes, unlike some legislative powers, need not be exercised exclusively and completely by the Legislature. Provided sufficient standards and safeguards are included in the statutory scheme, delegation to an executive agency is appropriate, and often necessary, for the effectuation of legislative powers. Clearly, the controlled substances act is premised on a legislative design similar to that employed in Soule. The Legislature formulated a comprehensive group of crimes dealing with controlled substances. An index of drugs adjudged dangerous or harmful was compiled, and the drugs were graduated according to potential for abuse. Penalties, including fines and incarceration, were coordinated to reflect the gravity of the offense and the seriousnesss of the controlled substance involved. Finally, the Board of Pharmacy, an eight-member board consisting of six pharmacists and two public members, was given the strictly controlled authority to modify the controlled substances schedule to insure that it reflect current developments in the drug industry. Defendant correctly notes, however, that while the regulatory scheme approved in Westervelt, Soule, and Seaman, supra, included only misdemeanor-level crimes, the controlled substances act creates felonies. While it is true that more serious consequences flow from a felony conviction under the controlled substances act, we find no meaningful distinction between the delegation of power to make rules regarding misdemeanor offenses and the delegation of rulemaking relative to felony offenses. The severity of the penalty does not destroy the accountability of the Legislature nor the safeguards provided to protect the public. Therefore, the Legislature has not unconstitutionally delegated a nondelegable power.