The drugs to be added include some synthetic cannabinoids, as well as acetyl-fentanyl, a chemical that is sometimes cut into heroin that can be deadly when dosed incorrectly.
The drugs will be added to Vermont’s rule that designates substances illegal because they pose a risk to public health. Some drugs on the list are available by prescription, but are restricted in large quantities.
Lawmakers on the legislative rules committee reviewed the list of proposed changes at a hearing Thursday. They postponed action on the rule until the next hearing in August
The 75 proposed additions are the latest of hundreds of substances to be added to the list in the past several years as the state tries to keep on top of the trends and cocktails spreading in the drug market
According to Det. John Merrigan, of the Vermont State Police Drug Diversion Unit, the most prominent synthetic drug in Vermont is bath salts — a family of stimulants that have been associated some violent attacks and deaths in other parts of the country.
Synthetic drugs “don’t rise to the same level as the opiate issue does in Vermont,” Merrigan said. “That is a huge, huge problem that’s only getting bigger.”
He added that “this is still a significant issue in Vermont.”
So-called “designer drugs” are difficult for law enforcement to track because the chemical compounds may be different depending on where the drug is coming from and who mixed it, Merrigan said.
“What I call bath salts may be one chemical formula, and what you call bath salts may be another formula,” Merrigan said.
From the perspective of law enforcement, Merrigan said, it’s “really frustrating” when officers know that there are drug compounds being used that are not considered regulated substances.
State toxicologist Dr. Sarah Vose worked with the Vermont forensics lab to assemble the list of substances to be added to the rule this year. The list includes some chemical compounds that the lab may have identified in tests that were not already identified in Vermont’s rule.
Since Vose began working on the rule in 2012, the state has updated the list of regulated substances with hundreds of new items in order to stay on top of trends, she said in an interview Thursday. She would like to see the list updated annually, and anticipates that the rate that new substances will slow over time as Vermont gets up to date.
Vose said that the danger from synthetic drugs comes in part from users not knowing what they are buying.
“Some of the substances can be mixed with others to make a sort of cocktail,” Vose said. “Users may not be aware what’s in the packages or drugs that they’re using.”
Synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and aceto-fentanyl, for instance, are favored by people who sell heroin because they increase the value of the product, Merrigan said.
VDH also uses information from peer review journals and from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to update Vermont’s policy.
Merrigan said that Vermont does a good job of using national data to anticipate certain trends in state policies.
