Subjecting the new psychoactive substance 1-phenyl-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)pentan-1-one (α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone, α-PVP) to control measures

2015/0309(CNS)

PURPOSE: to subject the new psychoactive substance 1-phenyl-2-(1-pyrrolidin-1-yl) pentan-1one (α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone, α-PVP) to control measures.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion.

BACKGROUND: a risk assessment report on the new psychoactive substance α-PVP was drawn up in compliance with Decision 2005/387/JHA by a special session of the extended Scientific Committee of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, and was subsequently submitted to the Commission and to the Council on 27 November 2015.

α-PVP is a potent psychostimulant, structurally related to cathinone, pyrovalerone and Methylendioxypyrovaleron (MDPV) which are controlled under the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

There have been a total of 115 deaths and 191 acute intoxications registered in eight Member States reported where α-PVP was detected.

α-PVP has no established or acknowledged medical use (human or veterinary).

Despite the limited scientific evidence available on α-PVP, the evidence and information on the health risks that the substance poses, as documented in its detection in fatalities and acute intoxications, provides sufficient ground for subjecting α-PVP to control measures across the Union.

CONTENT: the proposed Decision seeks to subject the new psychoactive substance 1-phenyl-2-(1-pyrrolidin-1-yl) pentan-1one (α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone, α-PVP) to control measures across the Union.

Since sixteen Member States control α-PVP under national legislation complying with the obligations of the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances and five Member States use other legislative measures to control it, subjecting this substance to control measures across the Union would help avoid the emergence of obstacles in cross-border law enforcement and judicial cooperation, and would help protect from the risks that its availability and use can pose.

For further details, please report to the summary of the Commission’s initial legislative proposal of 18.12.2015.