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Congressional Daily Record
This section is about changes proposed to a bill or resolution. It mentions members such as David Harold McCormick.
Issued
June 18, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextSA 5886. Mr. McCORMICK (for himself, Mr. Ricketts, and Mrs. Shaheen) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. . NITAZINE CONTROL ACT.
(a) Short Title.—This section may be cited as the
“Nitazene Control Act”.
(b) Findings.—Congress finds the following:
(1) 2-Benzylbenzimidazole opioids are a class of synthetic
opioids first synthesized in the 1950s that exhibit
significant potency at the mu-opioid receptor, with some
substances exceeding the potency of fentanyl.
(2) The Drug Enforcement Administration has temporarily or
permanently scheduled multiple 2-benzylbenzimidazole opioids
compounds under schedule I of section 202(c) of the
Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) due to their
high abuse potential and lack of accepted medical use.
(3) Nitazenes and related compounds have emerged in the
illicit drug supply as designer drugs and contribute to
overdose and fatal poisonings in the United States.
(4) A class-wide permanent scheduling of 2-
benzylbenzimidazole opioids is necessary to preemptively
address the proliferation of new analogs, streamline
enforcement, and protect public health.
(5) The HALT Fentanyl Act (28 U.S.C. 801 note; Public Law
119-26) created pathways for research using schedule I
controlled substances that apply to scheduled nitazenes.
(c) Schedule I Classification of Nitazenes.—
(1) Amendment.—Schedule I of section 202(c) of the
Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
“(f)(1) Unless specifically exempted or unless listed in
another schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or
preparation which contains any quantity of a 2-
benzylbenzimidazole opioid, or which contains the salts,
isomers, and salts of isomers of a 2-benzylbenzimidazole
opioid.
“(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term `2-
benzylbenzimidazole opioid' includes the following:
“(A) A substance that is structurally related to 2-
benzylbenzimidazole with the following modifications:
“(i) At the 1-position, substitution with an alkyl linker
connected to a substituted amine group containing hydrogen,
alkyl, alkenyl, or heteroaryl group, such as a morphilino,
pyrrolidino, or piperidinyl groups, whether or not further
substituted.
“(ii) At the 2-position—
“(I) replacement of the alkyl portion of the benzyl group
with a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, alkoxy, carbamates
group, nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen atom; or
“(II) replacement of the phenyl portion of the benzyl
group with an aryl or heteroaryl group.
“(iii) Substitution on the phenyl portion of the
benzimidazole ring with a hydrogen atom, halogen, nitro,
cyano, substituted or unsubstituted amide, amine, alkyl,
alkoxy, aryl, or heteroaryl group.
“(iv) At the 6-position, substitution with hydrogen,
nitro, trifluoromethyl, methoxy, trifluoromethoxy, cyano, and
halogen groups.
“(B) A substance that exhibits agonist activity at the mu-
opioid receptor.
“(C) Etonitazene, clonitazene, metonitazene,
isotonitazene, protonitazene, butonitazene, etodesnitazene,
flunitazene, N-pyrrolidino etonitazene, N-desethyl
isotonitazene, and N-piperidinyl etonitazene.”.
(2) Removal of temporary status.—Any substance included in
the amendment made by paragraph (1) that was temporarily
scheduled under section 201(h) of the Controlled Substances
Act (21 U.S.C. 811(h)) shall be deemed permanently scheduled
and subject to the requirements of schedule I of section
202(c) of that Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) as of the date of
enactment of this Act.
(3) Rule of construction.—Nothing in this subsection shall
be construed to authorize the initiation of new research
using 2-benzylbenzimidazole opioids, as defined in subsection
(f) of schedule I of section 202(c) of the Controlled
Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)), as added by paragraph (1)
of this section, without proper registration and scheduling
compliance.