5201545 Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Department of - Notice of Emergency Rulemaking - Title 16, Chapter 33 (Synthetic Drugs)

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS

 

NOTICE OF EMERGENCY RULEMAKING

 

The Director of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (Director), pursuant to authority set forth in D.C. Official Code § 47-2851.20 (2012 Repl.), Section 104 of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Civil Infractions Act of 1985, effective October 5, 1985 (D.C. Law 6-42; D.C. Official Code § 2-1801.04 (2012 Repl.)), and Mayor’s Order 99-68, dated April 28,1999, hereby gives notice of the adoption of the following amendment to Chapter 33 (Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) Infractions) of Title 16 (Consumers, Commercial Practices, and Civil Infractions) of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR).  

 

The emergency rulemaking creates a civil infraction for businesses engaged in the sale, possession, or manufacture of synthetic drugs. 

 

This emergency rulemaking is necessary to the immediate preservation of the public welfare to bring enforcement regulations in line with Section 301 of the District of Columbia’s Omnibus Criminal Code Amendments Act of 2012, effective June 19, 2013 (D.C. Law 19-320; 60 DCR 3390 (March 15, 2013)), which added synthetic drugs, such as synthetic marijuana and “bath salts”, to the District of Columbia’s schedule of controlled substances. This rulemaking supports various Federal Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Justice regulations that make it illegal to buy, sell, or possess Schedule I controlled substances such as K2/Spice, synthetic drugs, or their equivalents, because these substances pose an imminent hazard to public health, safety and welfare.

 

These rules were included in a joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Title 16 and Title 17 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations, published April 25, 2014 at 61 DCR 4210, and in a Notice of Second Proposed Rulemaking published August 15, 2014 at 61 DCR 8561. This emergency rulemaking was adopted November 28, 2014, and became effective on that date. The emergency rulemaking shall remain in effect for up to one hundred and twenty (120) days or until March 28, 2015, unless earlier superseded by publication of a Notice of Final Rulemaking in the D.C. Register.

 

Pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 2-1801.04(a)(1), the Director shall submit the proposed changes to Title 16 of the DCMR to the Council of the District of Columbia.

 

Title 16, CONSUMERS, COMMERCIAL PRACTICES, AND CIVIL INFRACTIONS, Chapter 33, DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS (DCRA) INFRACTIONS, Section 3301, BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSING ADMINISTRATION INFRACTIONS, of the DCMR is amended as follows:

 

Subsection 3301.1 is amended by adding new subparagraphs (mm) and (nn) to read as follows:

 

(mm)    D.C. Official Code § 48-902.04 (schedule I synthetic drugs); or

 

(nn)      D.C Official Code § 48-902.08 (schedule III synthetic drugs).

 

A new Subsection 3301.5 is added to read as follows:

 

3301.5             Violation of any of the following provisions shall be a Class 1 infraction:

 

(a)                D.C. Official Code § 48-902.04 (sell, offer for sale, allow the sale of, display for sale, possess, market, trade, barter, give, devise or otherwise make or attempt to make available synthetic drugs from schedule I).

 

(b)               D.C. Official Code § 48-902.08 (sell, offer for sale, allow the sale of, display for sale, possess, market, trade, barter, give, devise or otherwise make or attempt to make available synthetic drugs from schedule III).