Staff Report
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Today, at the request of Attorney General Russell Coleman, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the emergency classification of bromazolam as a schedule 1 controlled substance. The dangerous, unregulated drug, which is commonly known as “designer “Xanax,” has been tied to a growing number of fatal overdoses nationwide, including 48 in Kentucky last year.
The new designation, which took effect immediately, criminalizes the sale and possession of bromazolam in the commonwealth and gives police and prosecutors clearer authority to pursue cases.
“Team Kentucky has made important progress in our fight against addiction, with three-straight years of declines in overdose deaths, and we’re committed to ensuring that work continues,” Beshear said in a press release from his office. “This deadly drug has no place in our communities, and now we have the tools needed to get it off the streets and protect more lives.”
“By answering our call to take emergency action on bromazolam, we have given Kentucky law enforcement new tools to keep this dangerous drug off our streets,” Coleman said in the release. “I’m proud of the zealous collaboration with the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force to sound the alarm and save lives. We live in a moment when as little as one pill can kill – and is killing – our kids. I’m glad we could work together to tackle this grave threat.”
Prior to Beshear’s action today, the only states that designated bromazolam as a Schedule 1 controlled substance were Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.
The announcement came shortly after Coleman – with the support of 21 other attorneys general – urged the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to take similar emergency action at the federal level. In a letter to DEA Administrator Terry Cole, they described bromazolam as “highly potent and unpredictable,” noting that illicitly manufactured versions lack quality controls and increase overdose risk.
“Unlike regulated medications,” the letter reads in part, “illicitly manufactured bromazolam lacks any quality controls, making it particularly lethal for unsuspecting users.”
By design, the emergency scheduling is intended to help police remove the drug from circulation and equip prosecutors to hold traffickers accountable while sending a clear signal that “designer Xanax” has no place on American streets.
“Law enforcement desperately needs the tools to drive this dangerous drug from our neighborhoods,” Coleman said in a statement. “Along with attorneys general from across the country, we’re working with President Trump to support our law enforcement and keep families safe from this poison.”
Coleman’s urgency around the cause was largely prompted by communications to the Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations from the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force about a troubling increase of bromazolam pills flooding the commonwealth, according to a press release from his office. A Drug Strike Force investigation with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service recently interdicted one parcel containing 958 pills that were later confirmed to be bromazolam.
Attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia signed Coleman’s letter, which can be read here.
