Nitazene Control Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3076 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3076

  To amend the Controlled Substances Act to permanently schedule the 
  class of 2-benzylbenzimidazole-opioids known as nitazenes, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 30, 2025

 Mr. McCormick (for himself, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Ricketts, Mrs. Shaheen, 
  Mr. Schmitt, Ms. Slotkin, and Mrs. Moody) introduced the following 
    bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Controlled Substances Act to permanently schedule the 
  class of 2-benzylbenzimidazole-opioids known as nitazenes, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Nitazene Control Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) 2-Benzylbenzimidazole opioids are a class of synthetic 
        opioids first synthesized in the 1950s that exhibit significant 
        potency at the mu-opioid receptor, with some substances 
        exceeding the potency of fentanyl.
            (2) The Drug Enforcement Administration has temporarily or 
        permanently scheduled multiple 2-benzylbenzimidazole opioids 
        compounds under schedule I of section 202(c) of the Controlled 
        Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) due to their high abuse 
        potential and lack of accepted medical use.
            (3) Nitazenes and related compounds have emerged in the 
        illicit drug supply as designer drugs and contribute to 
        overdose and fatal poisonings in the United States.
            (4) A class-wide permanent scheduling of 2-
        benzylbenzimidazole opioids is necessary to preemptively 
        address the proliferation of new analogs, streamline 
        enforcement, and protect public health.
            (5) The HALT Fentanyl Act (28 U.S.C. 801 note; Public Law 
        119-26) created pathways for research using schedule I 
        controlled substances that apply to scheduled nitazenes.

SEC. 3. SCHEDULE I CLASSIFICATION OF NITAZENES.

    (a) Amendment.--Schedule I of section 202(c) of the Controlled 
Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(f)(1) Unless specifically exempted or unless listed in another 
schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or preparation which 
contains any quantity of a 2-benzylbenzimidazole opioid, or which 
contains the salts, isomers, and salts of isomers of a 2-
benzylbenzimidazole opioid.
    ``(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term `2-
benzylbenzimidazole opioid' includes the following:
            ``(A) A substance that is structurally related to 2-
        benzylbenzimidazole with the following modifications:
                    ``(i) At the 1-position, substitution with an alkyl 
                linker connected to a substituted amine group 
                containing hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, or heteroaryl 
                group, such as a morphilino, pyrrolidino, or 
                piperidinyl groups, whether or not further substituted.
                    ``(ii) At the 2-position--
                            ``(I) replacement of the alkyl portion of 
                        the benzyl group with a substituted or 
                        unsubstituted alkyl, alkoxy, carbamates group, 
                        nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen atom; or
                            ``(II) replacement of the phenyl portion of 
                        the benzyl group with an aryl or heteroaryl 
                        group.
                    ``(iii) Substitution on the phenyl portion of the 
                benzimidazole ring with a hydrogen atom, halogen, 
                nitro, cyano, substituted or unsubstituted amide, 
                amine, alkyl, alkoxy, aryl, or heteroaryl group.
                    ``(iv) At the 6-position, substitution with 
                hydrogen, nitro, trifluoromethyl, methoxy, 
                trifluoromethoxy, cyano, and halogen groups.
            ``(B) A substance that exhibits agonist activity at the mu-
        opioid receptor.
            ``(C) Etonitazene, clonitazene, metonitazene, 
        isotonitazene, protonitazene, butonitazene, etodesnitazene, 
        flunitazene, N-pyrrolidino etonitazene, N-desethyl 
        isotonitazene, and N-piperidinyl etonitazene.''.
    (b) Removal of Temporary Status.--Any substance included in the 
amendment made by subsection (a) that was temporarily scheduled under 
section 201(h) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 811(h)) 
shall be deemed permanently scheduled and subject to the requirements 
of schedule I of section 202(c) of that Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) as of 
the date of enactment of this Act.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall be 
construed to authorize the initiation of new research using 2-
benzylbenzimidazole opioids, as defined in subsection (f) of schedule I 
of section 202(c) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)), 
as added by subsection (a) of this section, without proper registration 
and scheduling compliance.
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