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Subjecting the new psychoactive substance N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)piperidin-4-yl]oxolane-2-carboxamide (tetrahydrofuranylfentanyl; THF-F) to control measures

2017/0342(NLE)

PURPOSE: to subject the new psychoactive substance N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)piperidin-4yl]oxolane-2-carboxamide (tetrahydrofuranylfentanyl;THF-F) 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: the risk assessment report on tetrahydrofuranylfentanyl; THF-F prepared by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and sent to the Commission and the Council on 14 November 2017 concludes that this substance - which was the subject of 53 seizures in one Member State in 2016 and in the first half of 2017 - is a synthetic opioid structurally related to fentanyl, which is a controlled substance widely used in medicine as an adjunct to general anaesthesia during surgery and for pain management.

The substance is typically sold in liquid form, for example in ready-to-use nasal sprays, or in powder form. It is sold online on the surface web in small and wholesale amounts, as a so-called research chemical or as a legal replacement to illicit opioids. It has no recognised human or veterinary medical use in the Union.

One Member State has reported 14 deaths one case of acute non-fatal intoxication where exposure to the substance was confirmed.

The available evidence and information on the health and social risks that the substance poses, given also its similarities with fentanyl and furanylfentanyl, provide sufficient grounds for subjecting tetrahydrofuranylfentanyl to control measures across the Union.

CONTENT: the draft Council decision aims to subject the new psychoactive substance tetrahydrofuranylfentanylto the control measures and criminal penalties provided for by Member States legislation, in accordance with their obligations under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1971.

For more details, see the summary of the Commission's initial legislative proposal dated 18.12.2017.