PURPOSE: to subject the new psychoactive substance N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)piperidin-4yl]furan-2-carboxamide (furanylfentanyl) to control measures.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Implementing 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 furanylfentanyl, drawn up by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and submitted to the Commission and to the Council on 24 May 2017 concluded that this psychoactive substance - detected in 16 Member States - is a synthetic opioid with a structure similar to that of fentanyl, a controlled substance commonly used in medicine for general anaesthesia in surgery and pain management.
The substance is sold online in small and wholesale amounts as a ‘research chemical’, typically in the form of powder and ready-to-use nasal spray. It has no recognised medical or veterinary use in the Union.
Five Member States reported 22 deaths related to furanylfentanyl. In addition, 11 acute non-fatal poisonings associated with furanylfentanyl were reported by three Member States.
The available evidence and information on the health and social risks that the substance poses, given also its similarities with fentanyl, provide sufficient grounds for subjecting furanylfentanyl to control measures across the Union.
CONTENT: the Council draft aims to subject the new psychoactive substance N-phenyl-N- [1- (2-phenylethyl) piperidin-4-yl] furan-2-carboxamide (furanylfentanyl) to control measures throughout the Union.
For further details, see the summary of the Commission’s initial legislative proposal dated 5.7.2017.