EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
This Order amends the Misuse of Drugs (Designation) Order (Northern Ireland) 2001 (S.R. 2001 No. 431) (“the Order”).
Regulation 2 adds twenty-one substances (including seventeen synthetic opioids, sixteen of which are nitazenes) to Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Order. Section 7(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (c. 38) requires the Department of Health to make regulations to allow drugs controlled under that Act to be used for medicinal purposes. Section 7(3), however, does not apply to any drug which is designated by order under section 7(4) of that Act. Controlled drugs are designated where the Department of Health is of the opinion that it is in the public interest for production, supply and possession of that drug to be either wholly unlawful or unlawful except for research or other special purposes, or for medicinal use of the drug to be unlawful except under licence. Schedule 1 to the Order specifies the list of controlled drugs to which section 7(4) applies.