Federal Analogue Act

United States v. Forbes

United States v. Forbes, 806 F. Supp. 232 (D. Colo. 1992), a Colorado district court case, considered the question of whether the drug alpha-ethyltryptamine (AET) was a controlled substance analogue in the United States. The controlled drugs to which it was alleged that AET was substantially similar were the tryptamine analogues dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and diethyltryptamine (DET).

AET

DMT

DET

In this case, the court ruled that AET was not substantially similar to DMT or DET, on the grounds that (i) AET is a primary amine while DMT and DET are tertiary amines, (ii) AET cannot be synthesized from either DMT or DET, and (iii) the hallucinogenic or stimulant effects of AET are not substantially similar to the effects of DMT or DET. Furthermore, the court ruled that the definition of controlled substance analogue given in the Federal Analogue Act was unconstitutionally vague, in that

"Because the definition of 'analogue' as applied here provides neither fair warning nor effective safeguards against arbitrary enforcement, it is void for vagueness."

The common law principle that the people should have the right to know what the law is, means that the wording of laws should be sufficiently clear and precise that it is possible to give a definitive answer as to whether a particular course of action is legal or illegal. However, despite this ruling the Federal Analogue Act was not revised, and instead AET was specifically scheduled to avoid any future discrepancies.

As a district court decision, this case is not binding precedent.

United States v. Washam

United States v. Washam (2002) 312 F.3d 926, 930 was an appellate decision for the eighth judicial circuit in which it was considered whether the drug 1,4-Butanediol (1,4-B) was a controlled substance analogue in the United States. The controlled drug which it was alleged 1,4-B was substantially similar to was gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB).

1,4-B

GHB

In this case the court ruled that 1,4-B was substantially similar to GHB, on the grounds that (i) "1,4-Butanediol and GHB are both linear compounds containing four carbons and that there is only one difference between the substances on one side of their molecules", and, more importantly, (ii) that 1,4-B is metabolized into GHB by the body and so produces substantially similar physiological effects.

It was raised in defense that 1,4-B and GHB contain different functional groups.^{[citation needed]} but these were not held to be grounds to consider 1,4-B not substantially similar to GHB.

It was also raised in the case of Washam that the Federal Analogue Act was unconstitutionally vague, but in this case the court rejected this argument on the grounds that the defendant's actions in concealing her activities and lying to DEA agents showed that she knew her actions were illegal, and furthermore that "…a person of common intelligence has sufficient notice under the statute that 1,4-Butanediol is a controlled substance analogue." The court in Washam construed the Analogue Act to require parts A(i) and either A(ii) or A(iii), and concluded the Act was constitutionally permissible upon this construction.

As a result of Washam, the Federal Analogue Act has been upheld (at least for the states and territories comprising the eighth judicial circuit) and can be considered valid at the present time.

However, a jury in Federal District Court in Chicago in a different case found 1,4-butanediol not to be an analog of GHB under federal law, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that verdict and so 1,4-butanediol is currently not a controlled substance analogue.

Temple of the True Inner Light

The Temple of the True Inner Light, a small psychedelic church in New York City which believes that psychedelic drugs such as dipropyltryptamine (DPT) are the physical form of God, was founded in 1980 and has operated for decades since then. DPT has never been made an explicitly controlled substance in the United States, though it could be considered an analogue of Schedule I psychedelic tryptamines such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and diethyltryptamine (DET) under the Federal Analogue Act. Despite this however, although the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other authorities have been well-aware of the Temple of the True Inner Light, they have opted not to interfere with their operations. Instead, a representative for the DEA stated that they would likely step in if the drug ever became a major problem, specifically giving MDMA (Ecstasy) as an example of this that had been scheduled a few years earlier. Other reasons for the church being left alone include their nature as a religious group, their history of legal efforts, and New York City being preoccupied with more dangerous drugs and organizations.

Voyager Labs

Judd Weiss, a businessman and former 2016 American Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate, launched a new company called Voyager Labs in the mid-2020s selling uncontrolled designer psychedelics and entactogens such as 4-HO-MET (metocin; Xüm) (a close analogue of psilocin) and 5-MAPB (Plür) (a close analogue of MDMA) for explicit recreational use. According to Weiss, the Federal Analogue Act is "effectively dead", and he says that he is unconcerned about the law with regard to his business operations. This was based on past critiques by Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch of the law being too vague and on notions that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is preoccupied with more dangerous drugs like fentanyl. Relatedly, mushroom edibles containing the unscheduled designer psychedelic and psilocin prodrug 4-AcO-DMT (psilacetin; O-acetylpsilocin) surged in the United States as an alternative to illegal psilocybin in the early 2020s and have remained legally unencumbered.