New regs for Friday: Drugs and studios

In Friday’s edition of the Federal Register, the Drug Enforcement Agency proposes a rule to list a synthetic opioid as a schedule 1 drug and the Federal Communication Commissions proposes eliminating a rule for radio and TV stations.

What’s ahead:

Opioids: The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is planning to temporarily list a synthetic painkiller among the nation’s most highly abused and addictive drugs.  

The agency is proposing a rule to list the synthetic opioid acryl fentanyl as a schedule 1 drug along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy, under the Controlled Substances Act.

DEA said its concerned about the recreational use of fentanyl substances given the likelihood of it leading to a fatal overdose.

The agency said at least 83 people have died from using acryl fentanyl since September 2016. The majority of the deaths occurred in Illinois and Maryland.

Schedule 1 drugs are those that have a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.

Radio/TV studios: The Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) is eliminating a rule that requires each AM, FM and television broadcast station to maintain a main studio located in or near its community of license.

FCC said the 80-year-old rule is outdated and unnecessarily burdensome for broadcast stations.

“When the rule was conceived almost eighty years ago, local access to the main studio was designed to facilitate input from community members as well as the station’s participation in community activities,” the agency said in its rulemaking. “Today, however, widespread availability of electronic communication enables stations to participate in their communities of license, and members of the community to contact broadcast radio and television stations, without the physical presence of a local broadcast studio.”

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed rule.