PURPOSE: to subject the new psychoactive substance N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)piperidin-4yl]furan-2-carboxamide (furanylfentanyl) to control measures.
NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/2170 on subjecting N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)piperidin-4-yl]furan-2-carboxamide (furanylfentanyl) to control measures.
CONTENT: the aim of the Council’s implementing decision is to subject the new psychoactive substance N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)piperidin-4yl]furan-2-carboxamide (furanylfentanyl) to control measures.
The risk assessment report drawn up in accordance with Decision 2005/387/JHA by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and sent to the Commission and the Council on 24 May 2017 concludes that this psychoactive substance was detected in 16 Member States is a synthetic opioid whose structure is similar to fentanyl, a controlled substance commonly used in medicine as a supplement to general anaesthesia in surgery and as an analgesic. It is mainly produced in China.
Five Member States reported 22 deaths related to this substance and 11 acute furanylfentanyl-associated intoxications were reported by three Member States.
Furanylfentanyl is sold in small or wholesale quantities as a "research chemical", usually in the form of ready-to-use powder or nasal spray. It may also have been sold on the illicit opioid market. It has no recognised human or veterinary medical use.
Only ten Member States control furanylfentanyl under their national drugs control legislation, while three further Member States use other legislative measures to control it.
The evidence and information available on the health and social risks posed by this substance are sufficient grounds for subjecting furanylfentanyl to control measures throughout the Union.
The decision provides that, no later than 19 November 2018, Member States will have to submit the new psychoactive substance to the control measures and criminal penalties provided for by their legislation, in accordance with their obligations under the 1971 UN Convention on the Protection of Psychoactive Substances.
The United Kingdom is not bound by this decision.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 22.11.2017.