The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is designating seven narcotic substances and will begin management efforts to prevent illegal use.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 28th that it has issued a legislative notice for a revision of the 'Enforcement Decree of the Narcotic Control Act' that includes the designation of seven substances, including etomidate, as narcotics and psychotropic drugs.
The substances newly designated as narcotics include four types: etonitazepipine, N-pyrrolidino protonitazene, N-pyrrolidino metonitazene, and N-desethyl isotonitazene. The psychotropic drugs consist of three types: hexahydrocannabinol, etomidate, and remboquant.
The substances scheduled for designation by the 68th United Nations (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and those decided by the domestic Narcotic Safety Management Committee are reflected in this revision.
The substances newly designated as narcotics by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs are novel drugs synthesized by modifying certain structures of existing narcotics. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has been monitoring international narcotics trends and had already designated them as temporary narcotics for management.
Etomidate, used as a general anesthetic, has been designated as a narcotic due to cases of illegal administration and misuse occurring in some medical institutions. This designation aims to manage it actively to prevent illegal use.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, “We expect that this designation of narcotics will allow us to comply with international narcotics regulations while actively addressing the domestic issue of narcotics misuse. We will do our best to safely manage narcotics for the health and safety of the public.”