Phenibut ban (Aus)

[LIBERTYNY]

Looks like phenibut is about to be banned

 

   ---   Consultation: Proposed amendments to the Poisons Standard - Joint ACCS/ACMS meeting, July 2017 | Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

 

 I hope you guys have enouth time to put together some type of resistance like the USA did with kratom.

 

I apologize if this has already ben posted but I did not see it 

[Change]

Good! Its extremely addictive, and offers minimal therapeutic value. 

[Anodyne]

Surely it was already covered under the analogues legislation? I mean, I know people were selling it openly, but I used to work in Redfern where people sold their diverted methadone openly... doesn't mean that it's legal.

 

Says they're still tossing up between S4 & S9, my bet is on S9 - in the eyes of the TGA, benzoes do everything phenibut does, but makes them (or their business associates, fuck the TGA selection process is so appallingly corrupt) much more money. Phenibut is nasty but also cheap, there's a reason it was popular...

[LIBERTYNY]

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

   ---   Martin Niemoller

[stonewolf]

Phenibut is one of the drugs that probably shouldn't be in wide circulation.

 

The time between dosing and building a tolerance and even dependence is crazy.  I took it daily for a week and had a nasty experience upon cessation.  

 

99% of the time the TGA get it wrong, but Phenibut is nasty stuff.  There is no comparison to something like Kratom or even Tianeptine.

[ballzac]

On 6/22/2017 at 1:11 PM, stonewolf said:

Phenibut is one of the drugs that probably shouldn't be in wide circulation.

 

The time between dosing and building a tolerance and even dependence is crazy.  I took it daily for a week and had a nasty experience upon cessation.  

 

99% of the time the TGA get it wrong, but Phenibut is nasty stuff.  There is no comparison to something like Kratom or even Tianeptine.

 

When has banning an addictive substance ever really limited its availability from those who are most at risk from it? When has prohibition ever been a successful harm minimisation approach? The more dangerous or addictive a substance is, the more important it is that it is legal. For example, if they banned Leonotus, it would have virtually no effect other than to annoy a few people who use it, but whenever---and wherever---they ban fentanyl, it starts showing up in illicit batches of Heroin. With little to no quality control on the streets, it's poorly distributed and ends up killing users due to variations in concentration. Or, how about Heroin itself? Before Heroin was banned in Australia in the early fifties, the number of fatal overdoses per year was close to zero. It's been a while since I've looked at the figures, but last time I did, Heroin was killing hundreds of Australian a year.

[stonewolf]

1 hour ago, ballzac said:

 

When has banning an addictive substance ever really limited its availability from those who are most at risk from it? When has prohibition ever been a successful harm minimisation approach? The more dangerous or addictive a substance is, the more important it is that it is legal. For example, if they banned Leonotus, it would have virtually no effect other than to annoy a few people who use it, but whenever---and wherever---they ban fentanyl, it starts showing up in illicit batches of Heroin. With little to no quality control on the streets, it's poorly distributed and ends up killing users due to variations in concentration. Or, how about Heroin itself? Before Heroin was banned in Australia in the early fifties, the number of fatal overdoses per year was close to zero. It's been a while since I've looked at the figures, but last time I did, Heroin was killing hundreds of Australian a year.

For most substances I have a tendency to agree, but I find Phenibut to be such a poor choice of a drug that if it is illegal, people will choose other, safer products such as baclofen.  Right now people like it because it is legal and easy to obtain, make it illegal and harder to obtain, the alternatives seem more appealing.  The alternative gaba b agonists all take longer to develop a dependency to.  I'm of the opinon that Phenibut is a really really dirty and shitty drug that only holds appeal because of its legal status.

[Anodyne]

Stonewolf, as far as I understand the "significantly psychoactive" legislation that NSW & Queensland brought in a while back, "legal" and "not specifically named as a scheduled substance by the TGA" are no longer the same thing in those states.

 

If phenibut is a cheaper and easier synth than those "cleaner" options you named (as I suspect it is, since it's still used medically in some poorer countries), that could also make it a more attractive option for illicit manufacture after it is specifically scheduled.