LTE: How to keep D.C. residents safe from unpredictable synthetic drugs

By Karl A. Racine
Attorney General for the District of Columbia
Op-ed originally appeared in The Washington Post

Ambulance

Regarding the July 20 Metro article “Suspected overdoses spike in D.C.”:

There have been more than 380 overdoses and several deaths likely linked to synthetic drugs commonly called K2. Legislation that could help us address this crisis is now pending final action from the D.C. Council.

I proposed the Revised Synthetics Abatement and Full Enforcement Drug Control (Safe DC) Amendment Act of 2017 in December to make it easier to prosecute the suppliers and distributors of these dangerous drugs. Chemical compounds in synthetic drugs change often, making it difficult for the law to keep up. The compounds behind our current rash of overdoses are MMB-Fubinaca and FUB-144. MMB-Fubinaca is on the current list of prohibited substances, but FUB-144 is not. Although there is a legal work-around for prosecuting cases involving drugs that aren’t specifically listed, it is onerous and rarely successful. Safe DC would fix that by listing whole categories of drugs so dealers can’t avoid prosecution by making small tweaks to specific drug formulas.

An emergency version passed unanimously in 2016. We need a permanent version of Safe DC to protect vulnerable residents and to keep these toxic, unpredictable drugs off our streets.