Letter from the Home Secretary to commission the ACMD for advice on the appropriate classification and scheduling of Isotonitazene and related compounds
Published 21 January 2022
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Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
Professor Owen Bowden-Jones
c/o Zahi Sulaiman
Secretary to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)
Home Office Science Secretariat
Home Office
1st Floor (NE), Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
21 January 2022
Dear Owen,
Advice on the appropriate classification and scheduling of Isotonitazene (and related compounds), CUMYL-PeGACLONE and Diphenidine under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and associated Regulations.
As you are aware, the 64th Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting took place between 12-16 April 2021. A key function of the CND is to vote on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommendations on the international control of drugs. As set out below, eight substances were added to the relevant schedules of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971.
Added to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, as amended by the 1972 Protocol:
1. Isotonitazene - (Schedule I)
Added to the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971:
2. CUMYL-PEGACLONE - (Schedule II)
3. MDMB-4en-PINACA - (Schedule II)
4. 3-Methoxyphencyclidine (3-Meo-PCP) - (Schedule II)
5. Diphenidine - (Schedule II)
6. Clonazolam - (Schedule IV)
7. Diclazepam - (Schedule IV)
8. Flubromazolam - (Schedule IV)
Three of the eight substances (Isotonitazene, CUMYL-PeGACLONE and Diphenidine) are currently captured solely by the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 while the other five are already controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (‘the 1971 Act”).
In addition, on 18 August 2021, Public Health England issued a National Patient Safety Alert (CAS-ViewAlert (mhra.gov.uk) following an unprecedented number of overdoses, including fatalities, in people who use drugs, primarily heroin. I would welcome the ACMD’s advice on whether other benzimidazole opioids related to Isotonitazene (commonly called ‘nitazenes’) should be subjected to control under the 1971 Act.
For each of the below I would be grateful if the ACMD could provide advice on the appropriate domestic controls for these three substances under the 1971 Act, the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 and, where appropriate, the Misuse of Drugs (Designation) Order 2015, taking into account that in order to comply with our international obligations the outcome of the CND Vote requires increased domestic control of these substances:
1. Isotonitazene and related compounds
2. CUMYL-PeGACLONE and
3. Diphenidine.
As always, I am extremely grateful for the continued advice provided by the ACMD.
Rt Hon Priti Patel MP