N-desethyl etonitazene: Centre declares manufactured drug

The Centre has declared N-pyrrolidino isotonitazene, also called Isotonitazepyne, and N-desethyl etonitazene to be manufactured drugs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The Ministry of Finance’s Department of Revenue issued notification S.O. 5866(E) on 28 October 2026, covering the two substances, their salts and preparations. The declaration took effect on publication in the Official Gazette that day.

In the same Gazette issue, the department separately added MDMB-FUBINACA to the Act’s list of psychotropic substances and specified small and commercial quantities for all three substances. These are distinct legal steps: the first two notifications establish the substances’ classifications, while the third supplies the quantities used under the NDPS framework.

Two classifications under separate powers

The manufactured-drug declaration invokes Section 2(xi)(b) of the NDPS Act, the provision under which the Centre made the classification. The Department of Revenue’s notification says the government acted having regard to a decision taken under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961.

“Manufactured drugs” is a legal category in this notification, not permission to manufacture the substances. The declaration expressly extends beyond the named substances to their salts and preparations, rather than listing only the substances in isolation.

The notification also gives a chemical name for each substance alongside its common name. It identifies Isotonitazepyne as an alternative name for the first substance; N-desethyl etonitazene is listed separately.

MDMB-FUBINACA is covered by notification S.O. 5867(E), which uses Section 3, the Act’s power to change the list of psychotropic substances. The department inserted it at serial number 110ZZL in the Schedule, the statutory list attached to the Act.

For that addition, the Centre said it was satisfied on the basis of available information and evidence concerning the substance’s nature, effects and scope for abuse. The notification also refers to changes incorporated in the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971.

The distinction between these classifications matters within the legislation. The Department of Revenue’s published text of the NDPS Act identifies Section 21 as the punishment provision for contraventions involving manufactured drugs and preparations, and Section 22 as the corresponding provision for psychotropic substances. The October notifications classify substances and specify quantities; they do not themselves set out sentences or decide any individual offence.

Small and commercial quantities specified

Notification S.O. 5868(E) amends the Department of Revenue’s quantity notification S.O. 1055(E), dated 19 October 2001. It invokes Sections 2(viia) and 2(xxiiia), the provisions cited for commercial and small quantities, respectively.

For N-pyrrolidino isotonitazene, the new entry specifies 0.0017 gram in the small-quantity column and 0.085 gram in the commercial-quantity column.

For N-desethyl etonitazene, the corresponding figures are 0.0005 gram and 0.025 gram.

For MDMB-FUBINACA, the department specifies 0.0025 gram and 0.125 gram. All these entries are expressed in grams, including the commercial quantities; they are not kilogram figures.

The wording of the statutory definition is important when reading the table. Section 2(viia), in the Department of Revenue’s published Act text, defines commercial quantity as a quantity greater than the amount specified by the Centre through a Gazette notification. The figures in the commercial-quantity column therefore need to be read with that definition, rather than as a standalone description of an offence.

The quantity notification expressly took effect on its publication in the Official Gazette. It contains no deferred commencement date or transition period.

According to its accompanying note, the quantity notification had previously been amended through S.O. 907(E), dated 18 February 2026. The separate psychotropic-substance notification identifies S.O. 906(E), of the same date, as the preceding amendment to the Act’s Schedule.

Earlier additions show the notification process

The Department of Revenue has used this combination of classification and quantity notifications before. Its notification S.O. 577(E), dated 8 February 2024 and published in the Gazette on 9 February 2024, declared four substances, their salts and preparations to be manufactured drugs: 2-Methyl-AP-237, Etazene, Etonitazepyne and Protonitazene.

A companion notification, S.O. 578(E), added ADB-BUTINACA, Alpha-PiHP and 3-Methylmethcathinone to the psychotropic-substance Schedule. Another, S.O. 579(E), specified small and commercial quantities for those seven substances. Those documents illustrate why a declaration and a quantity-table amendment are separate instruments, even when published together.

An earlier Department of Revenue notification, S.O. 1382(E), dated 2 May 2017, similarly declared Acetylfentanyl and MT-45, their salts and preparations, to be manufactured drugs. In an accompanying office memorandum, the department asked the Narcotics Control Bureau to inform drug-law enforcement agencies and familiarise their officers with the notifications.

The October 2026 Gazette gives the legal basis, substance identities and quantity entries for the latest changes. It does not provide Indian seizure figures, estimates of use, substance-specific health findings or an explanation of how the numerical quantities were selected. For the manufactured-drug declaration, its stated basis is the decision under the international narcotic-drugs convention; it does not reproduce that decision or the evidence underlying it.