Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2016 and comes into force on the twenty-eighth day after the day on which it is made.

Amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971

2.  The following amendments are made to Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

3.  In Part 2 (which specifies the drugs which are subject to control under that Act as Class B drugs)-

(a)after paragraph 1(c) insert-

"(ca)any compound (not being clonitazene, etonitazene, acemetacin, atorvastatin, bazedoxifene, indometacin, losartan, olmesartan, proglumetacin, telmisartan, viminol, zafirlukast or a compound for the time being specified in sub-paragraph (c) above) structurally related to 1-pentyl-3-(1-naphthoyl)indole (JWH-018), in that the four sub-structures, that is to say the indole ring, the pentyl substituent, the methanone linking group and the naphthyl ring, are linked together in a similar manner, whether or not any of the sub-structures have been modified, and whether or not substituted in any of the linked sub-structures with one or more univalent substituents and, where any of the sub-structures have been modified, the modifications of the sub-structures are limited to any of the following, that is to say-

(i)replacement of the indole ring with indane, indene, indazole, pyrrole, pyrazole, imidazole, benzimidazole, pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine, pyrrolo[3,2-c]pyridine or pyrazolo[3,4‑b]pyridine;

(ii)replacement of the pentyl substituent with alkyl, alkenyl, benzyl, cycloalkylmethyl, cycloalkylethyl, (N-methylpiperidin-2-yl)methyl, 2-(4-morpholinyl)ethyl or (tetrahydropyran-4-yl)methyl;

(iii)replacement of the methanone linking group with an ethanone, carboxamide, carboxylate, methylene bridge or methine group;

(iv)replacement of the 1-naphthyl ring with 2-naphthyl, phenyl, benzyl, adamantyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylmethyl, cycloalkylethyl, bicyclo[2.2.1]heptanyl, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthyl, quinolinyl, isoquinolinyl, 1-amino-1-oxopropan-2-yl, 1‑hydroxy-1-oxopropan-2-yl, piperidinyl, morpholinyl, pyrrolidinyl, tetrahydropyranyl or piperazinyl.";

(b)in paragraph 2A, for "(c)" substitute "(c), (ca)".

4.  In paragraph 1(b) of Part 3 (which specifies the drugs which are subject to control under that Act as Class C drugs), after "Desoxymethyltestosterone" insert-

"Dienedione (estra-4, 9-diene-3,17-dione).".

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order brings certain drugs under the control of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (‘the Act'). Article 3 of this Order brings a further range of synthetic cannabinoids under permanent control as Class B drugs under the Act, excluding those synthetic cannabinoids which are already controlled under the Act as Class B drugs, two other compounds which are already controlled as Class A drugs (clonitazene and etonitazene), and several other compounds that have legitimate medical uses (acemetacin, atorvastatin, bazedoxifene, indometacin, losartan, olmesartan, proglumetacin, telmisartan, viminol and zafirlukast).

Article 4 brings the anabolic steroid known as Dienedione (estra-4, 9-diene-3,17-dione) under permanent control as a Class C drug.