(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3998) (“the Regulations”). The Schedule of the Regulations in which a controlled drug is placed affects the extent to which the drug can be lawfully imported, exported, produced, supplied or possessed. The controlled drugs placed in Schedule 1 to the Regulations are those subject to the tightest controls.
Regulation 3 adds a further range of synthetic cannabinoids to Schedule 1 to the Regulations, excluding those synthetic cannabinoids which are already specified at sub-paragraphs (h) to (lc), two other compounds which are already specified in Schedule 2 to the Regulations (clonitazene and etonitazene), and several other compounds that have legitimate medical uses (acemetacin, atorvastatin, bazedoxifene, indometacin, losartan, olmesartan, proglumetacin, telmisartan, viminol and zafirlukast).
Regulation 4 adds the anabolic steroid known as Dienedione (estra-4, 9-diene-3,17-dione) to Part 2 of Schedule 4 to the Regulations. Controlled drugs placed in Part 2 of Schedule 4 are exempt from the prohibition on importation, exportation and from the prohibition on possession when in the form of a medicinal product.
An Impact Assessment will be published alongside the Explanatory Memorandum on the legislation.gov.uk website.