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Board of Pharmacy updates controlled‑substances list; bill would add recent fentanyl analogs and allow a psilocybin pharmaceutical exception
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Summary
The State Board of Pharmacy told the House Human Services Committee that Senate Bill 20‑64 would update North Dakota's controlled‑substance lists to reflect recent DEA and FDA scheduling actions, including additional fentanyl analogs and synthetic cannabinoids.
The House Human Services Committee heard testimony from the North Dakota State Board of Pharmacy on Senate Bill 20‑64, a biannual scheduling bill intended to align state controlled‑substance lists with recent federal (DEA/FDA) actions.
Mark Hardy, executive director of the State Board of Pharmacy, told the committee the bill "is a biannual bill introduced by the State Board of Pharmacy to bring the Controlled Substance Act up to date with what the Food and Drug Administration and the DEA have done over the past 2 years." Hardy walked the committee through several categories of changes:
- Schedule I additions: multiple new synthetic opioids (including recent fentanyl derivatives and other novel opiate analogs), several classes of synthetic cannabinoids (indole carboxamides and cyclohexylphenols) and substituted cathinones/stimulants identified by the DEA. - Schedule III changes: conforming changes to anabolic‑steroid listings following the federal Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act updates. - Schedule IV additions: the new depressant zuranolone (branded XERZUVAY), approved for postpartum depression; the bill also includes a targeted clause allowing an FDA‑approved psilocybin pharmaceutical formulation used in clinical trials to be scheduled as appropriate rather than be treated as Schedule I by default if approved.
Hardy asked the committee to consider one additional amendment to add seven recently scheduled fentanyl compounds identified by the DEA after the Senate hearing. He also requested an emergency clause to put the scheduling changes into effect quickly if adopted. Committee members asked routine clarifying questions; Hardy said this year’s package was comparatively smaller than some past cycles. The committee closed the hearing after testimony.
