Legislature(2017 - 2018)GRUENBERG 120
02/01/2017 02:15 PM House JUDICIARY
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB24 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 24 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 24-LIST U-47700 AS A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE
2:36:32 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the only business before the
committee is HOUSE BILL NO. 24, "An Act classifying U-47700 as a
schedule IA controlled substance; and providing for an effective
date."
2:37:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CHARISSE MILLETT, Alaska State Legislature,
advised that HB 24 addresses the opioid crisis epidemic. People
around the state are losing their lives, once a person is
addicted to opioids it is one of the most dangerous drugs to
manage, and is one of the hardest drugs to get off. This bill
addresses additive U-47700, a synthetic opioid added to heroin
and other street drugs. She said U-47700 is eight times
stronger than fentanyl and has a street name of "Pink," and
people unknowingly buy heroin with U-47700 added as one of the
ingredients. This bill simply adds U-47700 to schedule 1A, with
the chemical makeup of 3,4-dichloro-N-[2-
(dimethylamino)cyclohexvl]-N-methylbenamide, also known as U-
47700 or "Pink." She advised that this bill came to her by way
of the governor, and as a recommendations from the Controlled
Substances Advisory Committee (CSAC) to add Pink onto schedule
1A. Designer drugs, such as U-47700, are produced on a regular
basis and it's hard to predict what the synthetic makeup of that
drug will be, but it can be put on the list after it is defined.
These designer drugs are becoming stronger and more potent,
produced from countries outside of the USA, and because they are
not currently on the state's registry one could go online and
buy U-47700 through an internet website. Outlawing this in the
State of Alaska will make it unavailable, she stressed. The
federal government recently put U-47700 on its schedule and, she
commented, the federal government has a unique way of putting
their scheduled drugs onto the federal registry because it goes
through a regulatory process, and not through a legislative
process. She suggested adding a regulatory option to the
state's scheduled drugs, especially drugs as dangerous as Pink,
U-47700.
REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT explained there is no sectional analysis
because it simply adds the chemical makeup of 3,4-dichloro-N-[2-
(dimethylamino)cyclohexvl]-N-methylbenamide to the state's
schedule 1A statute.
2:41:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS commented that it makes sense to
have a regulatory process allowing the designated department to
use its discretion.
REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT suggested that possibly the House
Judiciary Standing Committee could determine a process of
putting drugs on a schedule through the regulatory process. She
described it as a large piece of legislation that would be a
work of art in putting sideboards on what the regulations could
and would not allow,. She commented that it would be a good
task for this committee. Due to the urgency of the U-47700
problem, she was unsure this legislation should be slowed down
to add her suggestion, although, it is a conversation that
should take place, she said.
2:42:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX explained that she understands
Representative Kreiss-Tomkins notion, yet the idea of putting
criminal laws into regulations and going through the regulatory
process to decide a criminal law, as opposed to the legislative
process, is frightening to her and it may be unconstitutional.
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP advised the committee that this synthetic
drug has been identified for some time as a major problem within
the law enforcement community. He explained, under AS 11.71,
Controlled Substances Advisory Committee (CSAC), the committee's
duty is to make sure substances are classified according to the
correct schedule in the state's statutes, and prepare a report
for the governor. The committee members include a pharmacist,
medical people, law enforcement, and others, and it reviews
various public safety effects on each drug. He reminded the
committee that CSAC is in place, and he requested that this
legislation receive the nod of CSAC.
REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT reminded Representative Kopp that
initially she had advised the committee that this legislation
came as a recommendation from CSAC. She said that AS 11.71.100
does a good job of identifying substances on the street, and the
committee was formed to assist legislators in understanding the
subject of synthetic drugs, and that the drug Spice was used
under CSAC.
2:44:49 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER agreed that the opioid epidemic in Alaska
crosses all cultures, barriers, is everywhere, and he thanked
the sponsor for this legislation. He noted that he would be
interested in making sure the state has bodies giving the
legislature recommendations such as this, and that the
legislation is passed timely
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN said he noticed, within the report from
CSAC that two different substances were recommended for
reclassification. He asked whether there was any intention of
moving on the other substance as well.
REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT replied that the other substance was not
included because U-47700 was a clearly defined substance that
the legislature could immediately put into statute. She said
she would entertain a friendly amendment if he wanted to add the
other substance, although, she stressed, at this point U-47700
is hitting the streets and causing deaths in Alaska.
2:46:32 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX asked whether the deaths caused by this
substance were by overdoses, or impurities in the substance.
REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT pointed to the reports provided in the
committee packets, and advised that U-47700 is an incredibly
high potency drug that is eight times as potent as fentanyl, and
fentanyl has caused some high profile deaths. She explained
that U-47700 is an additive that in itself increases the potency
of the drug being used, and the deaths are caused by both
overdoses and impurities because this drug is produced in
laboratories across the world with no FDA approval. She added
that there is no direct use for this drug in that it was an
experimental synthetic drug to use for surgeries, much like how
fentanyl is used.
2:48:25 PM
ROBERT HENDERSON, Chief Assistant Attorney, General and White
Collar Crime Prosecutor, Office of Special Prosecution,
Department of Law (DOL), explained that within his capacity at
the Department of Law (DOL) he is the chair of the Controlled
Substances Advisory Committee (CSAC). He said he was available
to answer questions regarding CSAC's process or U-47700,
specifically.
2:49:07 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked Mr. Henderson to briefly walk
through what adding this particular substance to the new
designation would have, and explained the implications of
passing this legislation and penalties.
2:49:33 PM
MR. HENDERSON responded that by scheduling U-47700 as a schedule
1A controlled substance, the penalties would include the
following: mere possession of the substance would be a class A
misdemeanor; possession with the intent to deliver less than one
gram, a class C felony; possession with the intent to deliver
more than one gram, a class B felony; and the actual delivery of
the substance to a person under the age of 19, "if the person
delivering the substance and the person receiving the substance
is less than three years," an unclassified felony.
2:50:25 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked him to spell out the sentences for
each of those offenses, under Senate Bill 91.
2:50:40 PM
MR. HENDERSON explained that with mere possession of the
substance, first offense, there is no active jail time and there
is a limited amount of suspended time. The maximum sentence for
a person found guilty of possessing this substance would be 30
days with 30 days suspended. With regard to second conviction,
under current law, no active jail time could be imposed and the
suspended time would be an upper suspension of 180 days, he
explained.
MR. HENDERSON explained a class C felony - possession with the
intent to distribute less than one gram, the sentence would be
dictated by their criminal history, but assuming the person has
no criminal felony history, it would be a probationary sentence
of up to 18 months suspended time.
MR. HENDERSON explained the class B felony - possession of more
than one gram, the sentence would be zero to two years of active
jail time, authorized by the court, on a first felony
conviction. He continued that there are graduated sentences
depending upon the person's criminal history, particularly,
felony history.
2:52:19 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP added that there is a criminal financial
penalty such that a misdemeanor is up to $10,000, and once it
moves into the felony range it moves up considerably.
MR. HENDERSON replied that he was correct.
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP explained to the committee that suspended
time means that any infraction [punishes the person to] serve
that time. He related that it may appear a person "is off," but
the person is under the gun so to speak.
CHAIR CLAMAN listed individuals online available for questions,
and opened public testimony on HB 24. After ascertaining no one
wished to testify, closed public testimony on HB 24.
2:54:33 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked Mr. Henderson to explain the zero
fiscal note for DOL.
MR. HENDERSON opined that in the event U-47700 becomes a
schedule 1A drug, DOL would incur the prosecution costs of
prosecuting and trying someone in court in possession of the
drug. Whether or not that will be a significant number of
prosecutions while moving forward is unknown, he pointed out.
Currently, with regard to an unscheduled drug, law enforcement
is unable to seize that drug and because it is unable to seize
the drug, DOL is not necessarily seeing how frequent it has been
found by law enforcement. He deferred to Dr. Butler to discuss
how often this substance is seen in overdose deaths.
2:56:27 PM
JEFF TURNER, Staff, Representative Charisse Millett, Alaska
State Legislature, referred to the issue of creating a
regulatory system to ban these types of drugs when they hit the
streets, and advised that the system is in place in at least 10
states, 10 states have already placed emergency bans on U-47700,
and some of those bans have become permanent. There are 17
states that have legislation before their legislature to outlaw
U-47700. Historically, he said, this drug was developed in 1976
by Upjohn in looking for a replacement for morphine for cancer
patients, surgery patients, people with serious injuries, and
discovered that it wasn't much different from morphine. Upjohn
patented the drug and did not perform clinical trials on humans.
Unfortunately, drug dealers in foreign countries, primarily
China, troll the internet looking for these patents and what
sort of design or synthetic drugs they can produce that are not
banned under any federal or state laws, and then sell it on the
internet. He explained that when the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) placed this drug on its list of schedule 1
controlled substances, the internet sales pretty much went away,
except he googled Pink and found a website selling it. Even
though the website said it was based in South Korea there is no
way to authentic, the website also said the drug was for animal
testing; however, it recommended cutting the dosage in one-half
if used for human consumption, he pointed out.
2:58:36 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN asked for clarification that Congress added U-47700
to the federal list of controlled substances some months ago.
MR. HENDERSON clarified that it was actually added by DEA
regulation because DEA has the ability to place the drug on its
schedule 1 list, at least temporarily. He explained that the
drug can be listed for one to two years, and then it can be
extended another year before deciding whether to ban it
permanently.
CHAIR CLAMAN asked whether Congress must finally take action to
add it permanently to the list.
MR. HENDERSON said that that is his understanding.
CHAIR CLAMAN asked whether the committee would like to discuss
the bill further. After no response, asked for a motion to move
the bill out of committee.
3:00:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER restated his motion and moved to report
HB 24, Version 30-LS0260\A out of committee with individual
recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being
no objection, HB 24 moved from the House Judiciary Standing
Committee.
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