WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence ‎: twenty-sixth report, meeting held in Geneva from 17 to 22 April 1989

1. Introduction -- 2. Preparation for the meeting and format of this report -- 3. Benzodiazepines -- 4. Analogues of controlled substances (designer drugs) -- 5. Dronabinol -- 6. General recommendations and conclusions -- Acknowledgements -- References

Records the recommendations of a WHO expert committee responsible for reviewing information on psychoactive drugs to assess the need for their international control under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, or the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971. Evaluations are presented for fourteen substances, including four benzodiazepines, nine designer drugs (‎analogues of fentanyl, tenamfetamine and aminorex)‎, and dronabinol. Recommendations are based on a review of pharmacological and epidemiological data together with evidence indicating the potential of serious abuse-related social and health problems. For each drug, a summary of effects on the central nervous system, dependence potential, likelihood of abuse, and therapeutic usefulness is followed by the committee's recommendations on scheduling under the international treaties. Proposals include the recommended scheduling of the benzodiazepine midazolam and the rescheduling, to provide for less stringent control, of dronabinol, which may be useful as an antiemetic adjunct to cancer chemotherapy. The committee also recommended that all nine designer drugs be subject to international control. The report concludes with general recommendations concerning specifications for the types of information required to facilitate decision-making on the international control of psychoactive substances.