What Happened?

Every time federal drug regulators ban a dangerous synthetic opioid, chemists tweak its formula just enough to sidestep the law. Often, a "new" drug appears on the street. A report from Congress examines whether banning entire families of chemically similar drugs at once, rather than one substance at a time, can break that cycle. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) report "Classwide Scheduling of Controlled Substances" outlines options and tradeoffs for Congress on controlling entire families of chemically similar drugs rather than one substance at a time.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

Nitazenes and orphines are both potent synthetic opioids that produce effects similar to those of fentanyl. Fentanyl analogues were brought under a single classwide ban starting in 2018, but the report says that move contributed to a shift toward other uncontrolled substances. Some experts cited in the report argue the fentanyl-class controls helped drive the emergence of nitazenes on the illicit market, and some point to China's actions to control nitazenes as the reason orphines subsequently appeared.

Both Sides, Now

Law enforcement has called the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) struggle to keep pace with slightly altered drugs "whack-a-mole," and Congress extended the DEA's temporary order on fentanyl-related substances 10 times, with Presidents Trump and former President Biden both signing extensions, before making it permanent through the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act.

The CRS report identifies a structural problem with applying temporary authority to large classes of substances: the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services may not have enough time or resources to finish the required analysis for every substance before a temporary order expires, and the Government Accountability Office reported that U.S. attorneys relied on the classwide order in only three cases involving analogues not individually scheduled in fiscal years 2019 and 2020, while 10 of 269 fentanyl analogue sentencing cases in fiscal year 2023 involved non-scheduled analogues.

What Happens Next?

The report lays out three options for Congress: expand classwide scheduling to cover nitazenes and orphines, amend the time limits on the Drug Enforcement Administration's temporary scheduling authority, or legislate directly, which the report says allows faster action but places scientific judgments in statute rather than the regulatory process. No vote on any of the three options is scheduled.

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