BILL NUMBER: S1774

SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to adding W-18 to the
schedule of controlled substances

 
PURPOSE:

Relates to adding W-18 to the schedule of controlled substances

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 adds W-18 (4-chloro-N-(1-{2-(4-nitrophenyl)ethy1}2-
piperidinylidenelbenzenesulfonamide to Subdivision (b) of Schedule I of
Section 3306 of the Public Health Law.

Section 2 provides the effective date.

 
              

JUSTIFICATION:

In recent years, the use of synthetic drugs has become increasingly
widespread. These drugs have been created by manufacturers as an alter-
native to already-illegal drugs. This legislation would make W18 illegal
in order to prevent the potentially harmful results of W18 from reaching
New York.

W-18, which was banned in Canada in 2016, was originally created as a
pain reliever and patented in the United States and Canada in 1984, but
was only tested on mice and never sold commercially. The 1984 patent for
W-18 indicated that there were no tests which could detect the drug in
blood or urine. According to the Canadian Department of Health, "the use
of W-18 as a legal substitute for other controlled substances was first
detected in Europe in 2013, in the context of recreational use. In
2014,W-18 was added to the Europe an Monitoring Centre for Drugs and
Addiction (EMCDDA) list of New Psychoactive Substances." W-18 first
appeared in Canada in 2015 in counterfeit oxycodone tablets. Health
Canada also indicates that "the high analgesic potency of
W-18...suggests a potential severe risk for overdose" and the drug is
being imported from drug labs in China.

The Washington Post reported in 2016 that some experts indicate that
W-18 is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times stronger
than morphine. A portion of W-18 the size of a grain of salt could
potentially be deadly, according to WYSR in Syracuse. While more
research is needed to prove the level of toxicity in W-18, police
departments in Canada indicate that it has been mixed with heroin and
cocaine to create a more dangerous synthetic drug.

In March, 2016, a drug dealer in Florida was convicted of smuggling
fentanyl and law enforcement found more than 2 1/2 pounds of W-18 at his
residence.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2020 - S5221 Referred to Health Assembly

2020 - A509 Referred to Health
2017-2018: A.3030/S.5112 - Referred to Health.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.