German 1V-LSD Ban 2022

GERMAN 2022 1V-LSD BAN

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Chemical Collective or any associated parties.

As announced by Lizard Labs in their newsletter on Feburary 18th 2022 and again in a newsletter on the 10th May, many believe the German government is in the process of banning 1V-LSD by adding it to the NpSG. This is expected to happen this year, possibly as soon as mid June and at the latest, at the end of September.

Our first article about the announcement of the 1V-LSD 2022 German ban can be found HERE

Carry on reading for the full updated information on the ban and an in depth look at the whole situation!!

UPDATES

UPDATE: 1V-LSD is now banned in Germany and has been replaced by 1D-LSD. Click here to buy 1D-LSD.

UPDATE 30th August 2022

The final few weeks for legal 1V-LSD in Germany are upon us.

The meeting notes for the next Federal Council meeting on September 16th have now been published and sadly the expected NpSG amendment is listed as you can see HERE (Item 55)

This means 1V-LSD will be added to the NpSG and become illegal in Germany shortly after September 16th 2022.

Once the Federal Council votes through an amendment, it needs to be published in to the Federal Gazette, becoming law the day after. This process can take a few days, or a few weeks. In 2021 the last NpSG amendment came in to law 7 days after being discussed by the Federal Council.

This means for all our German customers, there’s just a few weeks remaining to legally purchase 1V-LSD. We recommend stocking up now.

We will continue to ship 1V-LSD to our German customers until the day the ban is published in the Federal Gazette HERE. We will be checking daily from September 16th and recommend all our German customers to do the same before they order. Any orders we can not fulfil will be fully refunded.

Please remember that the NpSG is primarily designed to stop distribution . While it is technically illegal to be in possession of substances covered by the NpSG, penalties are far less harsh than for other substances covered by the BtMG and many believe prosecution for personal use will not be followed up. To date, there have been very few cases of prosecution for personal amounts of substances covered by the NpSG – however as with all legal matters, please do your own research and decide the risks for yourself.

UPDATE 24th June 2022

Great and unexpected good news for everyone in Germany!! Here’s to a psychedelic summer <3

The agenda notes for the Federal Council meeting were published on June 21st HERE and there is no mention of the NpSG amendment! We assume this is because the amendment did not pass through the European Commission in time for it to be included – as you can see HERE the end of the standstill (the process of review by the European Commission) is listed as June 23rd. Close call!

The next Federal Council meeting is scheduled for September 16th

This means that 1V-LSD will remain legal in Germany until 21/09/2022 at the very least!!

We will know if the NpSG amendment banning 1V-LSD is included in the September Federal council meeting on August 30th when the meeting draft notes are published HERE

UPDATE 2nd June 2022

The German government has submitted their NpSG amendment to the European Commission, you can see it HERE
From the draft you can see they are changing their definition of Ergolene compounds so it now covers 1V-LSD.

We are waiting to see if this amendment will be passed through the European Commission in time for it to be included in the next Federal Council meeting scheduled for July 8th. We will know the agenda for this meeting on June 21st

This means 1V-LSD will remain legal until 15/07/2022. If we are lucky it will remain legal until 21/09/2022!!

UPDATE 24th May 2022

As of today, we can see the agenda for the 1022nd Federal Council Plenary session scheduled for 10/06/2022. There is nothing about the NpSG listed which means we know 1V-LSD will remain legal until the next session.

The next session is scheduled for 08/07/2022. We will know the agenda for this meeting on 21/06/2022

This means 1V-LSD will remain legal until 15/07/2022 at the very least!

WHAT IS THE NpSG

In Germany, there are several laws that govern drugs. The NpSG or Neue-psychoaktive-Stoffe-Gesetz (New Psychoactive Substances Act) was introduced on November 26th 2016 in an attempt to combat the spread of new psychoactive substances and research chemicals. Previously the BtMG (German Narcotics act) listed and scheduled substances individually, however, the new NpSG took a different approach by banning entire groups of substances to stop altered and novel compounds circumventing the law.

WHO DOES THE NpSG AFFECT?

It’s important to note that while the NpSG is an annex of the BtMG, the prohibition and penal provisions of the NpSG are particularly aimed at manufacturers, dealers, and distributors to stop the manufacture, sale, importation, and distribution of research chemicals within Germany. While it is technically illegal to acquire and be in possession of substances covered by the NpSG, penalties are far less harsh than for other substances covered by the BtMG and many believe prosecution for personal use will not be followed up.

THE 2021 NpSG UPDATE

In 2021, the German government overhauled the NpSG, changing the legislation and adding new substance groups to it, including Arylcyclohexylamines (Dissociatives). These changes were recommended by the committee of experts on December 21st 2020 then passed to the European Commission the 29th March 2021. It was voted through the Federal Council on Friday 25th June 2021 and published one week later in the Federal Gazette, bringing it into law on Saturday 3rd July 2021.

For a more in depth look at the NpSG and how and why it was updated in 2021, please head to our article on it HERE

HOW DO WE KNOW 1V-LSD WILL BE BANNED

UPDATE 2nd June 2022

The German government has submitted their NpSG amendment to the European Commission, you can see it HERE
From the draft you can see they are changing their definition of Ergolene compounds, so it now covers 1V-LSD

Until recently and as discussed in our first article about the ban, there was no written evidence or official publication about 1V-LSD being banned in Germany. However on May 2nd 2022, the committee of experts met for their 56th session. The agenda of their meeting can be found HERE and is shown in the screenshot below:


We can see the committee discussed clarifications to the specification of “Compounds derived from tryptamine” and also extensions to existing substance groups, specifically annex number 5 “Tryptamine-derived compounds”. 

We know that the German government classes lysergamides such as 1cP-LSD, 1P-LSD and 1V-LSD as “Tryptamine derived compounds” and although we are still waiting on the full results from the 56th session to be published, taking into account the popularity of 1V-LSD, it’s safe to assume they will be extending the substance group or changing the clarification of it to also cover 1V-LSD.

WHEN WILL 1V-LSD BE BANNED?

UPDATE 30th August 2022

The final few weeks for legal 1V-LSD in Germany are upon us.

The meeting notes for the next Federal Council meeting on September 16th have now been published and sadly the expected NpSG amendment is listed as you can see HERE (Item 66)

This means 1V-LSD will be added to the NpSG and become illegal in Germany shortly after September 16th 2022.

Once the Federal Council votes through an amendment, it needs to be published in to the Federal Gazette, becoming law the day after. This process can take a few days, or a few weeks. In 2021 the last NpSG amendment came in to law 7 days after being discussed by the Federal Council.

UPDATE 24th June 2022

The agenda notes for the Federal Council meeting were published on June 21st HERE and there is no mention of the NpSG amendment! We assume this is because the amendment did not pass through the European Commission in time for it to be included – as you can see HERE the end of the standstill (the process of being review by the European Commission) is listed as June 23rd. Close call!

The next Federal Council meeting is scheduled for September 16th.

This means that 1V-LSD will remain legal in Germany until 21/09/2022 at the very least!!

We will know if the NpSG amendment banning 1V-LSD is included in the next Federal council meeting on August 30th when the meeting draft notes are published HERE

This is a very hard question to answer accurately.

The short version is that worst case, it could be banned as soon as mid June. Best case we are looking at the end of September.

With previous bans, the committee of experts discussed amendments and additions to the NpSG and BtMG. Once discussed, these amendments were written up then published as recommendations to the German Federal Government.

These changes are then written up in full and sent to the European Commission for review, where the full legal draft and structure of the amendments is then published. Usually, legislative changes are reviewed by the European Commission and the member states for 2 months, however if an emergency procedure is invoked (usually due to claimed dangers to public health) this review or “standstill” period can be as fast as 3 weeks.

Once it has passed through the European Commission, it is then free to go to the German Federal Council who discuss then vote on the changes. Once voted through, the changes are officially passed into law when they are published in the Federal Law Gazette. They come into effect one day after they are published in the Gazette and this can be done any time within one month from discussion by the Federal Council. This entire process can take up to 6 months.

The difference this time round is that for simple changes to the annexes, we are not sure if this lengthy process still applies.

According to the committee of experts:

“The committee of independent experts according to § 1 paragraph 2 of the Narcotics Act and § 7 of the New Psychoactive Substances Act advises the federal government and makes technical recommendations on this. These committee recommendations do not anticipate the decisions of the Federal Government that are necessary in each individual case. Changes to the Annexes of the Narcotics Act are made by statutory ordinances of the Federal Government, which require the approval of the Bundesrat. Changes to the list of substance groups in the annex to the New Psychoactive Substances Act are made by statutory orders from the Federal Ministry of Health, which require the approval of the Federal Council, in agreement with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, with the Federal Ministry of Justice and for Consumer Protection and with the Federal Ministry of Finance.”

This may mean that the Federal Government can make changes to the annexes without recommendations from the committee of experts.

What we do know however, is that these changes must still be published and go through the European Commission then be voted through the Federal Council (Bundesrat) for them to become law.

Our first warning therefore will be when any amendments to the NpSG are published on the European Commission. This will be when we can also look at the changes in depth and how they are structured. You can search the database HERE – look for 2022 and Germany to show what’s currently being reviewed by the EC.

The Federal Council meets on set dates throughout the year, every 3-5 weeks on a Friday at 9:30AM CET. The drafts for what will be discussed in these meetings are published HERE two and a half weeks before the meeting. The final agenda will appear 10 days before the meeting.

The next meetings are scheduled for:

10th June 2022 (Meeting draft published 24th May)
8th July 2022 (Meeting draft published 21st June)

-SUMMER BREAK-

16th September 2022 (Meeting draft published 30th August)
7th October 2022 (Meeting draft published 20th September)

At this point, it is impossible to know which meeting the ban will be discussed at, however we will have 2 and a half weeks notice before it is when the meeting drafts are published. Once discussed, the ban will have to be published in the Federal Gazette to become law the day after. Last year, this happened 7 days after it left the Federal Council.

As soon as we know more, or the ban appears in a meeting draft, we will publish it here and let everyone know.

IS THERE A LEGAL SUCCESSOR TO 1V-LSD

At this moment in time – no.

While it is possible and various ideas for new lysergamides have been discussed on public forums until the specific changes to the NpSG and the amended classifications are made public, realistically it’s impossible to create something new that does not fall under an existing or planned classification, or know if this is even possible.

According to Lizard Labs from their latest newsletter:

“We had been hoping we could work on a 1V-LSD alternative by now but since we still don’t have the draft legislation to work with, that hasn’t been possible. We expect the ban will cover any obvious derivatives so we are not so confident that we will beat the prohibitionists this time!”

The good news is, there are almost limitless possibilities for psychedelic compounds. In the past few years, thousands of new compounds have been discovered, however whether or not they are viable in terms of effect, production and more importantly – if they are safe – are unknown.

CAN I STILL ORDER 1V-LSD?

A question we’re getting a lot – the short answer is: Yes.

Until the amendments to the NpSG have been published in the Federal Gazette, you will be able to legally buy 1V-LSD as normal.

We will continue to ship 1V-LSD to our German customers until the day the ban is published in the Federal Gazette HERE. We will be checking daily from September 16th 2022 and recommend all our German customers to do the same before they order. Any orders we can not fulfil will be fully refunded.

WILL I GET IN TROUBLE FOR ORDERING 1V-LSD NOW?

NO! – laws can not be enforced retroactively, so as long as you order (and receive your order) before the NpSG is revised, the entire process is still legal.

It’s important to remember that once the NpSG is revised, all the compounds covered by it will no longer be legal to import, distribute or manufacture in Germany. Possession of compounds covered by the NpsG is still considered illegal however as stated earlier, many people believe possession of small amounts for personal use will not generally be considered a prosecutable offence, as the NpsG is primarily set up to prosecute and penalise importers and distributors over personal users.

Saying this, it is important to read, research and interpret these laws yourself to make a safe and informed decision.

ARE MY DETAILS SAFE WITH YOU?

Another question we get asked a lot. The answer is YES!

We are a legal, tax-paying Dutch company operating from the Netherlands. Everything we sell is 100% legal in NL and the German government and authority have no jurisdiction over us.

Please be aware though that this is not the case with German vendors and businesses. If they come under legal scrutiny by German authorities or prosecutors, they can be forced to give up the information they hold on record. Sadly, we believe this may have already happened with one well known German vendor.

THE REALITY OF NPS BANS LIKE THIS

Little has changed, to quote my thoughts on this from last years ban:

“The sad reality of these types of bans is that the game of cat and mouse between research chemical manufacturers and lawmakers will continue. New novel compounds will be produced that circumvent the law, but research into the safety and efficacy of these compounds will have to start from scratch while well researched, loved and arguably safe (in comparison to Alcohol and Tobacco) compounds are made illegal.

Aside from the well documented negatives and failures associated with drug laws and prohibition, there are also important ethical arguments to consider regarding limiting people’s access to potentially beneficial psychedelics, their rights to experiment and autonomy.

There was on official German study published on 13/10/2020 evaluating the effect of the NpSG which can be found here

To quote from the findings of the study:

“The result of the evaluation is really devastating,” says Kirsten Kappert-Gonther, member of the health committee and spokeswoman for the Bundestag parliamentary group of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen for drug policy. “The ban did not prevent consumption, it only led to it being pushed onto the black market, where there is no longer any control whatsoever.”

This means that not only is the NpSG counter intuitive, but it’s actually putting the very people it’s supposedly designed to protect at higher risk. Sadly these findings have been largely ignored by politicians, leaving the question: Who is the ban really helping?

While we understand that the current Research Chemical market is officially unregulated, we would argue that the industry within Europe, especially within The Netherlands, is self regulated due to RC Vendors operating legally as official tax paying businesses with clear net websites and review systems. Vendors like ourselves are held to account, not only by our customers but by fellow vendors, review sites, forums, journalists and the community as a whole. It’s in everyone’s best interest for the best quality compounds to be available, not only to protect our reputation but also our customers and the communities well being.

While this system is by no means perfect, we believe this is a step in the right direction and far better than a completely unregulated black market that bans like the NpSG are pushing everyone towards.”