What do Etizolam, Zopiclone, O-Desmethyltramadol, and Salvinorin A all have in common?

As an addendum to the blog post from yesterday discussing the Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2015, roinonsteroids and other fine folks over at Reddit.com/r/researchchemicals have outlined the identity of other substances on the list.

Interestingly, the five benzodiazepines listed are etizolam, zopiclone, and “3 benzos that have never appeared on the research chemical market”.

As mentioned earlier, etizolam is not a benzodiazepine; it is a thienodiazepine. I guess it could be listed as a benzodiazepine derivative.

Zopiclone is also not a benzodiazepine. In fact, more often than not, it is described as a non-benzodiazepine hypnotic. Zopiclone is not available in the USA, but the S-enantiomer (eszopiclone) is marketed as Lunesta and is currently found in Schedule IV of the CSA.

 

Salvinorin A, one of the terpenoid compounds found in the Salvia divinorum plant, as well as O-desmethyltramadol, the active metabolite of the drug tramadol, are included in the 13 opioids/opioid-like substances.

Image from Erowid.org

https://www.erowid.org/plants/show_image.php?i=salvia/salvia_divinorum2.jpg

 

One wonders how the legislators constructed this list?

Is this just a grab bag of chemical names from research chemical websites? Or did actual chemists and toxicologists construct this list?

Considering that the folks at Reddit/r/researchchemicals and Reddit/r/drugs believe that a  large amount of these substance have never appeared on the market or aren't very common at all, this piece of legislation seems very Draconian.

Knowing that it they are on the DEA's Drugs and Chemicals of Concern list, I'm honestly surprised that mitragynine/7-hydroxymitragyine (alkaloids found in the plant Mitragyna speciosa or Kratom) isn't listed anywhere.

 

ForensicToxGuy