The European Parliament civil liberties committee, which was consulted on the draft Council implementing decision, took the unanimous view on Monday 4 September that the new psychoactive substance acryloylfentanyl should be subject to European Union control measures.
According to the risk assessment report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), acryloylfentanyl is a synthetic opioid liquid and an analogue of fentanyl, a controlled substance that is used in medicine as part of general anaesthesia to prevent pain after surgery or as an analgesic.
First detected in the EU in 2016, acryloylfentanyl has been found in six member states and has been linked to 47 deaths and 20 cases of acute poisoning. According to available information, the substance comes mainly from chemical companies based in China.
At the present time only nine member states have put controls on acryloylfentanyl under their national drug control laws. “Subjecting this substance to control measures across the Union would help avoid the emergence of obstacles in cross-border law enforcement and judicial cooperation, and would help protect from the risks that its availability and use could pose”, the Council states in its draft decision.
These new control measures are within the framework of the procedure set out by the Council decision (2005/387) on information sharing, risk assessment and control of new psychoactive substances. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)