Amended  IN  Senate  March 20, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1502

Introduced by Senator Ashby
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Berman)

February 16, 2024

An act to amend Section 11056 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to controlled substances.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1502, as amended, Ashby. Controlled substances: xylazine.
Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, categorizes controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions on those substances contained in Schedule I. Under existing law, the substances in Schedule I are deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use while substances in Schedules II through V are substances that have an accepted medical use, but have the potential for abuse. Existing law restricts the prescription, furnishing, possession, sale, and use of controlled substances, and makes a violation of those laws a crime, except as specified.
This bill would add xylazine to the list of Schedule III substances, as specified. If an animal drug containing xylazine that has been approved under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is not available for sale in California, the bill would create an exception for a substance that is intended to be used to compound an animal drug or an animal drug compound containing xylazine, as specified. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law regulates the use of various chemicals and substances. Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, categorizes controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions on those substances contained in Schedule I.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to increase criminal penalties for illicit use of xylazine.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NOYES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Xylazine, an animal sedative used in veterinary medicine that has not been approved or authorized for human use by the federal Food and Drug Administration, has been increasingly found in the illicit drug supply and has been linked to an increasing number of overdose deaths in every United States census region. Xylazine is not currently listed on the federal- or state-controlled substances schedules.
(b) Xylazine, also known as “tranq” or the “zombie drug,” is frequently used as an adulterant mixed with other drugs, especially fentanyl. Fentanyl mixed with xylazine enhances fentanyl’s effects, increases its addictiveness, and worsens the risk of a life-threatening overdose. Overdoses involving xylazine pose additional challenges to first responders and emergency physicians because xylazine is not an opioid and its effects cannot be reversed with the opioid reversal medication naloxone.
(c) Combining drugs such as fentanyl with xylazine may increase profits for illicit drug traffickers by reducing the amount of fentanyl or other drugs used in a mixture.
(d) The Biden-Harris administration designated fentanyl adulterated with xylazine as an emerging drug threat under federal law, triggering a series of responses focused on prevention, treatment, and supply reduction.
(e) As of 2023, the prevalence of xylazine in California is low compared to other parts of the country. As a preventative effort to deterring further saturation of xylazine in the California illicit drug market, it is critical that further escalation of the current opioid epidemic be addressed.
(f) Though xylazine has no approved human use, animal drugs containing xylazine are critically important in veterinary medicine. It is important that any solution to address the prevalence of illicit xylazine also protects access for legitimate veterinary uses.

SEC. 2.

 Section 11056 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

11056.
 (a) The controlled substances listed in this section are included in Schedule III.
(b) Stimulants. Unless specifically excepted or unless listed in another schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains any quantity of the following substances having a stimulant effect on the central nervous system, including its salts, isomers (whether optical, position, or geometric), and salts of those isomers whenever the existence of those salts, isomers, and salts of isomers is possible within the specific chemical designation:
(1) Those compounds, mixtures, or preparations in dosage unit form containing any stimulant substances listed in Schedule II which compounds, mixtures, or preparations were listed on August 25, 1971, as excepted compounds under Section 1308.32 of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and any other drug of the quantitative composition shown in that list for those drugs or that is the same except that it contains a lesser quantity of controlled substances.
(2) Benzphetamine.
(3) Chlorphentermine.
(4) Clortermine.
(5) Mazindol.
(6) Phendimetrazine.
(c) Depressants. Unless specifically excepted in Section 11059 or elsewhere, or unless listed in another schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains any quantity of the following substances having a depressant effect on the central nervous system:
(1) Any compound, mixture, or preparation containing any of the following:
(A) Amobarbital.
(B) Secobarbital.
(C) Pentobarbital
or any salt thereof and one or more other active medicinal ingredients that are not listed in any schedule.
(2) Any suppository dosage form containing any of the following:
(A) Amobarbital.
(B) Secobarbital.
(C) Pentobarbital
or any salt of any of these drugs and approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for marketing only as a suppository.
(3) Any substance that contains any quantity of a derivative of barbituric acid or any salt thereof.
(4) Chlorhexadol.
(5) Lysergic acid.
(6) Lysergic acid amide.
(7) Methyprylon.
(8) Sulfondiethylmethane.
(9) Sulfonethylmethane.
(10) Sulfonmethane.
(11) Gamma hydroxybutyric acid, and its salts, isomers, and salts of isomers, contained in a drug product for which an application has been approved under Section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 355).
(d) Nalorphine.
(e) Narcotic drugs. Unless specifically excepted or unless listed in another schedule, any material, compound, mixture, or preparation containing any of the following narcotic drugs, or their salts calculated as the free anhydrous base or alkaloid, in limited quantities as set forth below:
(1) Not more than 1.8 grams of codeine per 100 milliliters or not more than 90 milligrams per dosage unit, with an equal or greater quantity of an isoquinoline alkaloid of opium.
(2) Not more than 1.8 grams of codeine per 100 milliliters or not more than 90 milligrams per dosage unit, with one or more active, nonnarcotic ingredients in recognized therapeutic amounts.
(3) Not more than 1.8 grams of dihydrocodeine per 100 milliliters or not more than 90 milligrams per dosage unit, with one or more active nonnarcotic ingredients in recognized therapeutic amounts.
(4) Not more than 300 milligrams of ethylmorphine per 100 milliliters or not more than 15 milligrams per dosage unit, with one or more active, nonnarcotic ingredients in recognized therapeutic amounts.
(5) Not more than 500 milligrams of opium per 100 milliliters or per 100 grams or not more than 25 milligrams per dosage unit, with one or more active, nonnarcotic ingredients in recognized therapeutic amounts.
(6) Not more than 50 milligrams of morphine per 100 milliliters or per 100 grams, with one or more active, nonnarcotic ingredients in recognized therapeutic amounts.
(f) Anabolic steroids and chorionic gonadotropin. Any material, compound, mixture, or preparation containing chorionic gonadotropin or an anabolic steroid (excluding anabolic steroid products listed in the “Table of Exempt Anabolic Steroid Products” (Section 1308.34 of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations), as exempt from the federal Controlled Substances Act (Section 801 and following of Title 21 of the United States Code)), including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Androisoxazole.
(2) Androstenediol.
(3) Bolandiol.
(4) Bolasterone.
(5) Boldenone.
(6) Chloromethandienone.
(7) Clostebol.
(8) Dihydromesterone.
(9) Ethylestrenol.
(10) Fluoxymesterone.
(11) Formyldienolone.
(12) 4-Hydroxy-19-nortestosterone.
(13) Mesterolone.
(14) Methandriol.
(15) Methandrostenolone.
(16) Methenolone.
(17) 17-Methyltestosterone.
(18) Methyltrienolone.
(19) Nandrolone.
(20) Norbolethone.
(21) Norethandrolone.
(22) Normethandrolone.
(23) Oxandrolone.
(24) Oxymesterone.
(25) Oxymetholone.
(26) Quinbolone.
(27) Stanolone.
(28) Stanozolol.
(29) Stenbolone.
(30) Testosterone.
(31) Trenbolone.
(32) Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), except when possessed by, sold to, purchased by, transferred to, or administered by a licensed veterinarian, or a licensed veterinarian’s designated agent, exclusively for veterinary use.
(g) Ketamine. Any material, compound, mixture, or preparation containing ketamine.
(h) Hallucinogenic substances. Any of the following hallucinogenic substances: dronabinol (synthetic) in sesame oil and encapsulated in a soft gelatin capsule in a drug product approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
(i) (1) Xylazine, including its salts, isomers, and salts of its isomers. Any substance that contains xylazine.
(2) If an animal drug containing xylazine that has been approved under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is not available for sale in California, this subdivision does not apply to a substance that is intended to be used to compound an animal drug pursuant to the federal Food and Drug Administration’s industry guidance on compounding animal drugs from bulk drug substances, or an animal drug compound containing xylazine that is compounded pursuant to this guidance.
(3) Notwithstanding any other law, compounding an animal drug as described in paragraph (2) shall not be deemed unprofessional conduct under Section 4301 of the Business and Professions Code.

SEC. 3.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
SECTION 1.

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to increase criminal penalties for illicit uses of xylazine.