Explanatory note

These Regulations amend regulation 4B of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (the “2002 Regulations”) by including within the reference to 1, 4-butanediol in regulation 4B any substance which is an ester or ether or both an ester and an ether of 1, 4-butanediol, and by removing from the references to gamma–butyrolactone and 1, 4-butanediol any stereoisomeric form of gamma–butyrolactone and 1, 4-butanediol respectively. Regulation 4B was inserted into the 2002 Regulations by regulation 3 of the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009, and makes it lawful to import, export, produce, supply, offer to supply or possess gamma‑butyrolactone and 1, 4‑butanediol except where a person does so, knowing or believing that it will be used for the purpose of human ingestion other than as a flavouring in food.

These Regulations remove 4-Methylmethcathinone from paragraph 1(a) of Schedule 1 to the 2002 Regulations. 4-Methylmethcathinone will though fall within paragraph 1(m) and revoke paragraph (a) of regulation 4 of the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010. These Regulations insert Amineptine and Tapentadol in Schedule 2 to the 2002 Regulations.

The schedule in which a controlled drug is placed primarily affects the extent to which the drug can be lawfully imported, exported, produced, supplied or possessed and dictates the record keeping, labelling and destruction requirements in relation to that drug.