GOP introduces ban on drug that killed Blaine teen

Four bills have been introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to ban a substance known as 2C-E, a “designer drug” that is being blamed for the death of a Blaine teen and the hospitalization of 10 more. Republicans in the House and Senate introduced a bill on Monday that would make possession and sales of the drug a crime. The move follows a similar pair of DFL bills introduced two weeks ago.

2C-E is a synthetic drug in the phenethylamine family, a group of psychedelic substances developed in the 1970s. It’s often sold under the name Europa and is legal to purchase in the United States.

A teen brought the drug to a party last month; ten teens who ingested it became ill and one died. Law enforcement charged the teen who brought the drug to the party with third-degree murder. The law under which he would be prosecuted is complicated.

2C-E is potentially legal, but a substance that is close in chemical structure, 2C-B, is illegal. Drugs with a “substantially similar” chemical structure and similar effects are called analogs, and under the Federal Analog Act, those analogs are illegal. Whether 2C-E is substantially similar hasn’t yet been determined in court as no prosecutions have yet been successfully initiated.

The Analog Act has been declared unconstitutional in some jurisdictions and constitutional in others, making the law controversial because the law is vague in what is deemed substantially similar.

The bills put forward by the Minnesota Legislature would make 2C-E and its analogs illegal. Specifically, the bill bans 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine, also known as 2C-E, and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine, also known as 2C-I.

SF1092 was introduced on Monday by Republican Sens. Dan Hall of Burnsville, Warren Limmer of Maple Grove and Carla Nelson of Rochester.

HF1359 was introduced by Republican Reps. Bob Barrett of Shafer, Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe, Diane Anderson of Eagan, Roger Crawford of Mora, Kelby Woodard of Belle Plaine, Steve Gottwalt of St. Cloud, Kathy Lohmer of Lake Elmo, John Kriesel of Cottage Grove, Tim Sanders of Blaine and Tim Kelly of Red Wing.

The lone DFLer on the House bill is Jeff Hayden of Minneapolis.