Kilmartin wants DOH to designate new synthetic opioids as ‘controlled substances’

R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin is asking has the state Department of Health to immediately add certain chemical analogs to the Uniformed Controlled Substances Act. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin is asking has the state Department of Health to immediately add certain chemical analogs to the Uniformed Controlled Substances Act. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

(Updated 4:02 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – With new forms of opiates now available in Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin wrote on Monday to R.I. Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott to urge her to immediately add certain chemical analogs to the Uniformed Controlled Substances Act, according to a statement from his office.

Law enforcement officers in Rhode Island have found new forms of opiates – fentanyl analogs and synthetic opioids – circulating among drug traffickers and those suffering from substance use disorders.

According to Kilmartin’s statement, these substances, which have been designated as controlled substances by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, are much stronger than their counterparts, lead to a much greater chance of overdose and are less responsive to overdose reversal treatments, such as naloxone.

“Unfortunately, Rhode Island continues to be one of the leaders in the nation in marijuana and illicit drug use. Even more disturbing, we have been in the eye of the storm of heroin, fentanyl and prescription opiate overdoses. While the state, namely your Department, has made great strides in providing naloxone, increasing recovery coaches in our emergency rooms, and expanding medical assisted treatment programs, the crisis continues to increase in complexity,” wrote Kilmartin in his letter to Alexander-Scott.

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Joseph Wendelken, DOH public information officer, told Providence Business News that staff from DOH’s State Health Laboratories met with staff from the Office of the Attorney General last December to explore different avenues to ensure that Rhode Island’s drug schedule mirrored that of the federal government. “We have been and still are very eager to make sure that this happens, so law enforcement can prosecute cases as effectively as possible.”

Confirming that DOH’s State Health Laboratories and Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s Overdose Prevention and Task Force have been engaged with the Office of the Attorney General on this issue, Alexander-Scott added, “[We] will continue to partner with his office to ensure that Rhode Island gets ahead of this trend and other emerging trends in the evolving drug overdose epidemic. We are absolutely committed to preventing overdoses and saving lives.”

According to Amy Kempe, public information officer for the Office of the Attorney General, without such designation, the state has no authority to charge and prosecute someone with these analogs. Every time manufacturers vary a synthetic opiate that is classified as a controlled substance, such variation falls out of the classification and is not technically illegal. “The manufacturers of these synthetic opioids and analogs are very good at changing the compounds ever so slightly – which makes them a new substance, so we’re asking the state to follow the [federal government’s] lead,” said Kempe.

Calling these drugs an “imminent and severe hazard to the health, safety and welfare of Rhode Island citizens,” Kilmartin urged Alexander-Scott to designate them as controlled substances, which would empower local and state law enforcement officials to go after those who are selling and distributing them.

In addition, the Office of the Attorney General has sent legislation to the General Assembly that seeks to classify approximately 18 compounds as controlled substances, making them illegal to possess, sell or manufacture, said Kempe, who recognized that such efforts are a temporary fix.

Just as the Office of the Attorney General and the DOH collaborated to outlaw, in 2013, all synthetic substances in bath salts that people used to get high, Kilmartin intends to work with the DOH and the substance abuse and medical communities to identify an umbrella of possible compounds and classifications for fentanyl analogs and synthetic opioids so that they can be tackled aggressively, Kempe added.

“I am hopeful the General Assembly will take swift action on this matter during this legislative session, once introduced. It is vital we all focus on this emerging threat and take immediate steps to curtail its spread any further,” said Kilmartin.

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