Culture - How do Research Chemicals become illegal?

[Shampoo]

In light of the recent attention given to Mephedrone, I would like to compile a general list of Scheduled research chemicals and causes for their scheduling, in the hopes that perhaps we can learn something by examining our history. The pattern seems obvious enough, but having the information compiled in one location will help to bring the picture to light.

I will begin with a general list of Scheduled research chemicals in the United States and causes for their scheduling, if known.

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DOM (STP): After the STP fiasco in San Francisco in 1967, both on the street and at the infamous Human Be-In, mass attention was brought to the compound due to overdoses and hospital visits.

Though no deaths were reported, the compound was placed under DACA control on April 2, 1968, barely more than 1 year after the Human Be-In. DOM was then placed under Schedule I of the controlled substances act in 1973.


2C-B: In January of 1994, 2C-B is temprarily placed under Schedule I of the controlled substances act. In June of 1995, this is made permanent. Within 3 years 2C-B is scheduled in the Netherlands and Japan.

Earlier in the 1990s, 2C-B had been manufacutred by Drittewelle and sold as an aphrodisiac under the name "Eros".


2C-T-7: Sold under the name "Blue Mystic" in Dutch Smart Shops by De Sjaaman, 2C-T-7 gained widespread popularity in the club, dance, and rave scene starting in 1999.

The first 2C-T-7 related death occured in 2000. Two more deaths followed in 2001.

Rolling stone published an article entitled "The New (legal) Killer Drug" in 2002. This is immediately followed by the DEA formally declaring an emergency scheduling of 2C-T-7 in July of 2002.

In September 2002, 2C-T-7 is placed temporarily in Schedule I of the controlled substances act, and eventually made permanent.


5-MeO-DiPT (Foxy): 5-MeO-DiPT was first noticed by the federal government following a New York City drug bust in 1999 in which the DEA seized a box of capsules labeled "Foreplay." The drug was being marketed as an aphrodisiac, and the arrested posessors described it's effects as LSD-like and similar to MDMA.

5-MeO-DiPT was scheduled in at least on US state, Illinois, prior to it's federal scheduling. In April 2003, 5-MeO-DiPT was temporarily placed in Schedule I of the controlled substances act. One and a half years later, in 2004, this scheduling was made permanent.


AMT (IT-290): In April 2003, AMT is temporarily placed in Schedule I of the controlled substances act. One and a half years later, in 2004, AMT is permanently scheduled.


Here are a few other research chemicals which fall under Schedule I of the United States Controlled Substances Act. I cannot find a detailed history on how or when these compounds were scheduled. Please post here if you have any information regarding this.

DOB: How and when did this become scheduled?

DOET: How and when did this become scheduled?

N-Hydroxy-MDA (MDOH): How and when did this become scheduled?

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Please post information here in the above format regarding the scheduling or controlling of research chemicals in the United States and other countries.

Make sure to include: The location in which it was scheduled, the event(s) that caused it to be brought into the government's attentive concern, and a basic timeline of its legal history.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Nice topic to open. Keep adding information.

[Ilsa]

maybe the last three fall under the analogue act?

[Alfa]

2C-B
AFAIK Drittewelle sold 2C-B under the name 'Nexus' during '93 - '97. This was done from a Spanish PO box.

2C-B was for sale in the Dutch smartshops during this time and was sold heavily. It gained such a reputation during this time, that its still present on the black market due to demand created 15 years ago. The smartshops where living from 2cb sales at the time. The Dutch government could not leave an ecstasy analog that was this popular legal. Dutch law had a slow turnourand time then, and therefore ti took several years for the Dutch government to implement a ban. I expect that other governments where in a similar situation.

5-MEO-DIPT
Regarding foxy-methoxy; Erowid's latest Extracts has an article about spice, where they describe their position in the events before the Foxy ban.

4-MTA
I miss 4-MTA in this overview.
Short story: 4-MTA was sold in the Netherlands for several years without significant problems. Most smarthops sold it with an instruction flyer that included warnings not to combine with drugs or alcohol, etc.
Then it was distributed on the UK black market as ecstasy. Onset of 4-MTA takes 2 hours, which caused users to take multiple doses. Some users took very high doses and combined with a cocktail of other drugs and died. The media started a frenzy and dubbed the drug 'flatliners'. It was then quickly banned. The factory and the smartshop conscious dreams where raided. This was around 1999 / 2000.

The producer was brought to trial for releasing a harmful drug on the market, but after several court-cases, the prosecution was not able to scientifically prove that 4-MTA in its pure form was harmful.

AMT
AMT was scheduled after several people died in the USA.

2c-t-7
2ct7 deaths occurred in the USA, where it was sold as an research chemical powder, in contrast to the Netherlands, where it was sold as blue tablets with a flyer, that had the do's and donts listed.

2c-t-2
20.000 2c-t-2 pills where confiscated by the medicine authority at the office of conscious dreams; a Dutch smartshop in the Netherlands. Even though the drug was not intended for application as a medicine, the medicine authority abused/bended its medicine laws to apply to recreational drugs. That basically put an end to the triving sale of 2c-t-2 in the Netherlands.

Reputation Comments on this post:

damn good info

[RaverHippie]

I always assumed 2C-B/DOB were outlawed because the analogue act required one chemical to be illegal so others could be "illegal" and these were the original ones picked to be illegal due to popularity...

[Shampoo]

Originally Posted by Ilsa

maybe the last three fall under the analogue act?

The last three are explicitly listed as Schedule I substances. Compounds which fall under the analogue act are not considered Schedule I substances. Somehow, these substances are considered more than analogues.

Originally Posted by RaverHippie

I always assumed 2C-B/DOB were outlawed because the analogue act required one chemical to be illegal so others could be "illegal" and these were the original ones picked to be illegal due to popularity...

No. 2C-B was made illegal for all of the reasons listed above.

Additionally, DOM (STP) was made illegal prior to the popularization of DOB, suggesting that DOB was not scheduled for the purpose of setting an analogue law standard.

Moreover, the analogue act could theoretically place all the substituted amphetamines (DOx molecules) under the blanket analogue term due to their relation to MDMA, all of the other phenethylamines under the analogue term due to their relation to Mescaline, and all of the tryptamine due to their relationship to LSD and 4-HO-DMT (Psilocin).

Originally Posted by Alfa

AFAIK Drittewelle sold 2C-B under the name 'Nexus' during '93 - '97.

Drittewelle sold 2C-B in 5mg tablets under the name Erox. The intended use was stated as being "for the temporary alleviation of male impotence and female frigidity." Under "other applications" it was also listed as being "utilized in psychotherapy to produce entheogenic and empathogenic states of consciousness" at 15-30mg "under the close supervision of a professional therapist.

I have uploaded a picture of the packaging from the 'Erox' product, here.

Originally Posted by Alfa

I miss 4-MTA in this overview.

I did not list this as it is not explicitly illegal in the United States, which was the heading for the brief list I had created. Thank you for adding this compound and history, though.

Originally Posted by cra$h

found the common thread. Lack of knowlage of harm reduction. Sounds like we're the vanguard of the preservation of psychoactives! All we need now is for every stupid kid to take a visit to this site, or others that promote smart drug use.

Perhaps, this may play a role in the deaths or hospital visits (read: DOM doses distributed at 5x the dosage suggested by Shulgin/2C-T-7 insufflation/AMT overdoses), but I do not see it as the single common thread. Some of these compounds have never resulted in deaths (read: 2C-B/no confirmed US deaths for 5-MeO-DiPT [one in japan]), yet are still made illegal. If lack of harm-reduction was the sole cause of scheduling, we would likely need to see deaths or mass hospitalizations from all of these compounds.

The common thread seems to be popularization and commercialization or research chemicals. 2C-B marketed as an ecstasy alternative in the Netherlands and an aphrodisiac in the US. 2C-T-7 marketed as an ecstasy alternative online and in the Nertherlands and published in Rolling Stone. DOM distributed in mass quantities in public settings. 5-MeO-DiPT sold as an aphrodisiac and published in Rolling Stone. 2C-T-2 marketed in the Netherlands by a Smart Shop. And, potentially, the widespread popularization of Mephedrone.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Really good info and conclusion

[cra$h]

found the common thread. Lack of knowlage of harm reduction. Sounds like we're the vanguard of the preservation of psychoactives! All we need now is for every stupid kid to take a visit to this site, or others that promote smart drug use.