The Drug Enforcement Administration has created its own schedule I listing for 3-chloromethcathinone (3-CMC) in a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 6, 2026. The rule adds paragraph (d)(118) to the schedule I hallucinogenic substances list in 21 CFR 1308.11(d) and assigns the substance drug code 1241. The substance is chemically 1-(3-chlorophenyl)-2-(methylamino)propan-1-one. The document, FR Doc. 2026-22717, was filed on November 5, 2026, and DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole signed it on November 2, 2026.
At a glance
- DEA's final rule, published November 6, 2026, adds 3-CMC as 21 CFR 1308.11(d)(118) with drug code 1241.
- The rule took effect on publication, and DEA says it does not change the substance's schedule I status.
- DEA says the listing lets it set production quotas for 3-CMC for registered manufacturers.
The amendment took effect on publication, November 6, 2026. DEA said it found good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to make the rule effective at once, citing possible confusion over the substance's regulatory status if the date were delayed and the absence of additional requirements.
DEA described the action as administrative and said it does not alter the substance's schedule I status. According to the agency, the rule only adds a separate listing and drug code, and every regulation and criminal sanction that applies to schedule I substances has applied to 3-CMC all along. The agency explained that 3-CMC has been controlled in schedule I since December 17, 2025, as a positional isomer of 4-chloromethcathinone, a schedule I hallucinogen. That control arises under 21 CFR 1308.11(d), which covers isomers of listed hallucinogens, and the two compounds differ only in where the chlorine atom sits on the phenyl ring. Until now, 3-CMC had no unique drug code of its own.
The new listing lets DEA set an aggregate production quota for 3-CMC and grant individual manufacturing and procurement quotas to DEA-registered manufacturers, the agency said. Those manufacturers had earlier received individual quotas for such purposes under the drug code for 4-chloromethcathinone.
DEA issued the rule without a proposed rule, finding notice and comment unnecessary under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B). It reasoned that the substance is already schedule I-controlled as a positional isomer and called the rule a technical amendment that makes no substantive difference to the substance's status. The rule also states that it imposes no new information collection, recordkeeping or reporting requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 on State or local governments, individuals, businesses or organizations.
The rule cites an international development as the prompt. In a letter dated June 6, 2024, the United Nations Secretariat told the U.S. government that 3-CMC had been added to Schedule II of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, following a Commission on Narcotic Drugs decision at its 67th Session in March 2024. DEA states that schedule I controls satisfy and exceed the domestic controls that Article 2 of the Convention requires for Schedule II.