WRITTEN QUESTION E-2757/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 October 2001)

Subject: Classification of GHB as a narcotic

On 13 December 2000 the Swedish Government decided to classify GHB as a narcotic and banned it from 1 February 2000. All handling of GHB then became a criminal offence in Sweden it was therefore prohibited to buy, sell, possess or use GHB. The courts would decide the penalties for these offences. GHB has caused a number of deaths in Sweden. It has mainly been used by young people as a party drug. An attempt to get after the drug under the doping law failed when the Gothenburg District Court gave an acquittal in a case in December 1999.

However GHB is approved as a medicinal product in several EU countries. A Swedish ban on GHB is in principle a technical barrier to trade. There might therefore be objections in other EU countries to its classification. Sweden has told the Commission that it intends to classify it as a narcotic.

The Commission has not objected to Sweden's decision. Can the Commission state what decision has been taken in this matter in the light of Sweden's announcement of its decision to classify GHB?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(14 November 2001)

Sweden notified the Commission in December 1999 of her intention to classify Gammahydroxybutyrate (GHB) as a narcotic drug according to Swedish legislation on illicit drugs. The need to notify the Commission stems from the fact that GHB is in legitimate medical use in some Member States and classifying it as a narcotic drug could be considered as a technical barrier to free trade. A derogation to the principle of free trade has to be justified in line with the EC Treaty requirements e.g. on grounds of a threat to public health.

GHB appeared in illicit markets in Sweden and GHB has been associated with 11 deaths in the Community between September 1995 and January 2000 and, hence, the Commission did not object the Swedish notification.

Legislation on the control of illicit drugs falls mostly under the competence of the Member States. The drug control legislation in Member States is based on the United Nations Conventions from 1961, 1971 and 1988, which have been signed and ratified by all Member States. The level of control on each substance depends on the Schedule (I to IV with Schedule I requiring the strictest control) of the Conventions in which it is placed. The 32nd World Health Organisation (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence recommended to the United Nations (UN) Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) that GHB be listed in Schedule IV of the 1971 United Nations (UN) Convention on Psychotropic Substances. This would mean that the control measures to be applied to GHB would resemble those applied to commonly used medical products like benzodiazepins.

However, according to the United Nations (UN) Conventions, a country party to the Conventions may adopt stricter or more severe measures than those provided by the Conventions if, in its opinion, such measures are desirable or necessary. Hence, it is left to the countries to decide, if they want to classify a substance to a schedule requiring stricter control measures. Therefore, the Commission has no objection on the Swedish initiative to reclassify GHB as an illicit substance.