The Obedient Quango [The Rise & Fall Of Ephenidine]
An individual case study on how the UK government banned an obscure and unused drug, with no history of toxicity or death, in pursuit of tough-on-drugs media headlines.
I really enjoyed ephenidine. In fact when I am asked to list my favourite drugs of all time it regularly features. For those who are not familiar, it is a dissociative, but it is orally consumed and is longer lasting than ketamine.
I reported it as follows in The Drug Users Bible: https://drugusersbible.org/chemscape/dissociatives/ephenidine.html
No-one is dying from this drug: in fact I have found nothing to suggest that anyone has ever died from it since it was originally synthesized. Here in the UK there are no known cases of acute toxicity or serious medical issues at all. None.
Furthermore, it is generally defunct, with no cases of use recorded by the authorities since 2016-17, when four entries appeared on the WEDINOS database.
It is basically held by collectors as an historical artefact.
DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT
This article actually writes itself, courtesy of the formal report by the government’s own advisory quango, the ACMD.
Let’s start at the beginning. Does this drug actually pose a danger to the public?
8.2 There have been no published case reports or series describing acute toxicity related to the use of ephenidine, fluorolintane or isophenidine.
8.11 There have been no reports of presentations involving ephenidine, fluorolintane or isophenidine within the Euro-DEN Plus project.
8.13 This review did not identify any deaths where fluorolintane, isophenidine or ephenidine had been detected, reported to have been used prior to death and/or were determined to have been involved in the death.
10.17 There have been no UK reported cases of acute toxicity related to diphenidine, ephenidine, isophenidine or fluorolintane to the Euro-DEN Plus Network.
10.21 This review did not identify any deaths in the United Kingdom where fluorolintane, isophenidine or ephenidine had been detected, reported to have been used prior to death and/or were determined to have been involved in the death.
But it’s a dissociative: doesn’t ketamine cause bladder problems?
7.5 Chronic use of ketamine can be associated kidney, bladder and urinary tract toxicity, particularly haemorrhagic cystitis [Kalsi S et al 2011]. There is currently no evidence to suggest that diphenidine, methoxyphenidine and ephenidine are associated with these kidney, bladder and urinary tract toxicities.
Is it even being used out there? Are the public being exposed to it in any shape or form?
10.2 The publicly available ‘sample results’ section on the WEDINOS website was searched for samples that had been analysed where diphenidine, ephenidine, methoxyphenidine (searched using the term methoxphenidine), isophenidine or fluorolintane were identified.
10.4 The samples analysed where diphenidine, ephenidine or methoxyphenidine have been detected are summarised in the table below by year of detection, along with the total number of samples in each year.
[My summary: No samples at all have been recorded by WEDINOS for ephenidine since 2016-2017, when there were only 4. There were 5 the year before that, and zero previous to this.]
What about other sources?
10.6 The ACMD Secretariat contacted Forensic Early Warning System (FEWS) for any information on the detection of diphenidine, ephenidine, fluorolintane, isophenidine and methoxyphenidine (MXP, 2-MeO-diphenidine).
10.8 FEWS have not detected diphenidine, ephenidine, fluorolintane or isophenidine in any samples analysed.
10.10 Online and app TOXBASE accesses for diphenidine and methoxyphenidine are summarised in the Table below. No data are available for ephenidine, isophenidine or fluorolintane as no information about these compounds is currently available on TOXBASE.
Thus, the data clearly demonstrates that ephenidine is causing no public health issues whatsoever, that it never has, and further, that there is no evidence to suggest that it is even being used.
It is simply on the books as a once synthesized compound.
THE ACMD RECOMMENDATION
The recommendation of the Home Office sponsored independent expert body?
2. As these materials have no medical use it is recommended that they should be placed in Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (as amended) and added to schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs (Designation) (England, Wales and Scotland) Order 2015, Northern Ireland 2001, to which section 7(4) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 applies.
If the criterion for classification (and consequential imprisonment of citizens) is simply a lack of current medical use, doesn't this render the rest of the report to be a charade? It does serve one purpose, however: it provides perfect cover for the government to look tough on drugs.
In the middle of March 2024 a new drug war purge came into effect, specifically classifying 20 more compounds. Ephenidine was simply bundled in amongst them, and became a Class B drug, exposing those in possession to up to 5 years in prison, and those supplying to up to 14 years in prison.
This was announced as a significant intervention, and the government subsequently received its full compliment positive headlines from its media cohorts.
Mission accomplished.
.
FOOTNOTE: Ephenidine is an oral dissociative, with, in fact, unexplored (and now not to be explored) potential for significant medical use.