Butylone

Listed as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Additionally, as a structural analogue of MDMA and methylone, it may be prosecuted under the Federal Analogue Act when intended for human consumption.⁶²

§ 1(1)(2) includes every substance covered by an Anlage II chemical definition, and Anlage II Z 3 covers Amino-Phenyl-Ethanon and every compound derivable from that basic structure, including compounds with a heterocyclic/polycyclic ring in place of phenyl or chemical structures defined in § 1(2) as substituents. PubChem's current NCBI record identifies butylone/bk-MBDB as 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-(methylamino)butan-1-one, a methylamino, methylenedioxy-substituted cathinone derivative; on this identity it is covered by Anlage II Z 3. The current Suchtgiftverordnung Annex IV.1 names several other cathinones (including Methylon and Eutylon), while Annex V.1 names Cathinon and Annex V.2 names MBDB, with separate clauses for their isomers, esters, ethers, molecular compounds, salts and preparations; butylone is not individually named in the current Annex IV/V text. NPSG § 2 excludes substances that are subject to the Suchtmittelgesetz or lawfully placed on the market under medicines/pharmacy/medicinal-goods-import rules. Under NPSG § 4(1), the criminal offense is not a blanket possession offense: it requires intent to obtain an advantage and intent that another person use the covered NPS for a psychoactive effect, and covers production, import, export, handing over or procuring for another. The ordinary maximum is two years' imprisonment; if the offense causes death or severe bodily injuries to a larger number of people, § 4(2) provides one to ten years. Section 5 allows seizure/forfeiture even when no person can be prosecuted or convicted, absent a credible lawful-use and anti-psychoactive-use showing, and treats an NPS as an object whose possession is generally prohibited for StPO procedure. Section 7 authorizes customs to secure suspected NPS shipments to or from Austria intended for psychoactive use. The substance is subject to generic NPSG/NPSV control, and the offense is conduct-specific. Possession, production and sale are not categorically illegal. The statutory seizure/procedural rule does not establish a private-possession criminal offense.

Butylone is expressly named in Brazil's current consolidated Anvisa schedule, not merely captured by a generic cathinone or analogue clause. The schedule places BETACETO-DMBDB in Lista F2, within Lista F (substances whose use is proscribed in Brazil). Portaria 344 art. 4 prohibits production, manufacture, import, export, commerce and use of proscribed substances, except activities by institutions authorized by the Ministry of Health strictly for medical/scientific research; the Portaria's current text also states in art. 61 that Lista F substances cannot be prescribed or compounded into allopathic or homeopathic medicines. RDC 117 added BETACETO-DMBDB to F2 on 19 October 2016, and RDC 143 added the synonym βk-MMBDB and identified it as Dibutilona on 17 March 2017. Lei 11.343 art. 2 prohibits drugs throughout Brazil subject to legal/regulatory authorization, and art. 31 requires prior competent-authority licensing for producing, possessing, storing, importing, exporting, transporting or otherwise handling drugs for any purpose. For unauthorized acquisition, possession, storage, transport or carrying for personal consumption, art. 28 provides warning, community service and an educational measure (service/education up to five months, ten months for recidivism), with verbal admonition and then a fine for unjustified refusal; art. 28 does not set a quantity threshold, and §2 directs the judge to consider nature/quantity, place, circumstances, personal and social conditions, conduct and antecedents. Commercial or supply conduct without authorization is covered by art. 33 (reclusion 5–15 years and 500–1,500 day-fines), including free supply; §2 separately covers inducing/instigating/assisting use (detention 1–3 years plus 100–300 day-fines), §3 occasional no-profit sharing (detention 6 months–1 year plus 700–1,500 day-fines and art. 28 measures), and §4 permits a one-sixth to two-thirds reduction when its listed first-offender conditions are met. These personal-use provisions are penalty distinctions, not legalization of butylone.

Current CDSA Schedule III item 35 is not merely a closed list of 2C names: it is a generic chemical description expressly allowing a methylenedioxy ring, N-alkyl substitution and beta-carbon oxo substitution. PubChem's exact butylone identity matches those features, and the official INSPQ table independently records this exact butylone identity as SC3 (Schedule III) based on a Health Canada Office of Controlled Substances confirmation dated 2010-09-24. The current Justice Laws page retains the item 35 text and is current to 2026-06-21; the 2016 Canada Gazette order confirms how the generic rule entered force. Health Canada's later NPS publications classify distinct close homologues such as N-propylbutylone and N-sec-butyl-pentedrone under Schedule I item 19, but those are not ordinary butylone and do not displace the exact butylone Schedule III determination. Ordinary unlicensed handling is prohibited: CDSA sections 4-7 prohibit unauthorized possession, trafficking, importing/exporting and production of Schedule III substances, subject to statutory authorizations and exemptions. These are federal restrictions.

Butylone is expressly scheduled in Israel as a dangerous drug; this is a named listing, not an analogue-only inference. Butylone and MDPV were added in 2010 by Notice (No. 2) 5769-2009, and Butylone appears in the dangerous/psychotropic substances list under the Free Import Order, which excludes dangerous drugs from ordinary free-import treatment. The 8 June 2025 First-Schedule notice updates chemical-group wording and adds brorphine, bucinnazine, desnitazene, MT-45, nitazene, oripavine and xylazine; it does not repeal or exempt the butylone listing that predates the notice. The Ordinance definition covers the listed substance, its salts, and preparations, compounds, mixtures or solutions containing it. Section 6 requires a Director's licence for growing, producing, extracting or preparing a dangerous drug and carries up to 20 years' imprisonment or the statutory fine multiplier. Section 7 prohibits unauthorized possession or use; the general maximum is 20 years or the multiplier fine, while possession/use solely for personal consumption has a 3-year maximum or ordinary statutory fine. Lawful permitted transit is excepted from the possession prohibition. Sections 13 and 14 prohibit unauthorized export, import, facilitation, trade, other transactions, supply and brokering; section 19A carries up to 20 years or the multiplier fine for violations of that commerce/transit part. Section 21 provides a 25-year maximum for giving a dangerous drug to a minor or, in specified circumstances, allowing a minor to obtain one. The personal-consumption penalty distinction is a limitation on punishment, not legalization; no general recreational, retail or prescription pathway for butylone is specified.

The MHLW list current as of 27 August 2026 contains Butylone as a designated substance, not as a narcotic. The separately published MHLW narcotics schedule does not list Butylone, bk-MBDB, or ブチロン. Under PMD Act Article 76-4, the listed substance and its salts may not be manufactured, imported, sold, transferred, possessed, purchased, received, or used for purposes other than the statutory medical等用途 (medical diagnosis, treatment or prevention, or other ministerially specified uses that do not risk harm to the human body). This is a general non-medical prohibition, not a prescription-only classification; the medical等用途 exception does not make ordinary recreational possession or use lawful. For a non-business violation, Article 84(28) provides up to three years' 拘禁刑 (拘禁刑; the current statutory custodial penalty) or a fine up to ¥3,000,000, or both. Business manufacture, import, sale, transfer, or possession for sale/transfer (storage or display) is separately covered by Article 83-9 and carries up to five years' 拘禁刑 or a fine up to ¥5,000,000, or both. These are statutory maximums; the listed exception and any required lawful authorization must be established for a specific activity.

The same official regulation states that section 5 prohibits manufacture, acquisition, trade, import, export, storage, possession and use of narcotics listed with that reference, subject to limited medical/scientific exceptions.

The consolidated Polish regulation defines the schedule as a list of psychotropic substances divided into groups; the exact entry establishes controlled status but does not state a particular penalty.

Added to Schedule I (substances without accepted medical use) as of February 1, 2010. Listed by the Medical Products Agency in regulation LVFS 2022:48 under the designation Butylon.⁵³

The current official BetmVV-EDI consolidation (stand 13 March 2026) lists Butylon, with the cross-reference to 2-Methylamino-1-(3,4-methylendioxyphenyl)butan-1-on, in Verzeichnis d and assigns GTIN 7611746990994. BetmKV Art. 3(2)(d) defines Verzeichnis d as prohibited controlled substances. Accordingly, the exact substance butylone is prohibited/controlled in Switzerland rather than merely prescription-only or unscheduled. BetmVV-EDI Art. 1(2) also extends the listed-substance control to specified salts, esters, ethers, carbamates, stereoisomers and preparations. BetmKV Art. 8 allows the BAG to issue exceptional permits for handling list-d controlled substances; that narrow permit route does not make ordinary possession, sale or supply lawful. BetmG Art. 2b applies narcotics rules to psychotropic substances unless otherwise provided, and Art. 19(1) provides up to three years' imprisonment or a monetary penalty for unauthorized cultivation, manufacture, storage, transport, import/export, sale, supply, possession, acquisition and related acts; Art. 19a(1) provides a fine for unauthorized intentional consumption or an Art. 19 offence for personal use. The BetmG consolidation is dated 1 September 2023 and the BetmKV consolidation 23 January 2023; the operative substance schedule is the newer 13 March 2026 BetmVV-EDI PDF.

Designated a controlled substance as of October 2015 under national drug control legislation.²⁹

Butylone/bk-MBDB has the chemical name 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-(methylamino)butan-1-one. Finlex's amendment 650/2026 replaces the annex to decree 1130/2014 (the prior version was 1101/2025), takes effect 10 July 2026, and lists the Finnish entry 'Butyloni (bk-MBDB) (1-(1,3-bentsodioksol-5-yyli)-2-(metyyliamino)butan-1-oni)'. This is a consumer-market prohibition, distinct from narcotics scheduling. The narcotics decree is 543/2008: 651/2026 replaces its Annexes I, III and IV effective 10 July 2026, while 153/2025 is the latest amendment to Annexes II and IV before that replacement; neither amendment lists Butyloni or bk-MBDB. Finland's Narcotics Act defines a narcotic by the treaty/decision categories and delegates the detailed lists to decree; similar cathinones or MDMA entries do not establish that butylone is a narcotic. For a consumer-market-banned psychoactive substance, the Narcotics Act 5 § ban covers manufacture, import into Finland, storage, keeping for sale and transfer, subject to research and industrial-use exceptions in the Act. Criminal Code chapter 44 § 5 a applies where a person intentionally or through gross negligence manufactures, imports, stores, keeps for sale or transfers such a substance contrary to the Narcotics Act: unless another law provides a more severe penalty, the range is a fine or imprisonment for at most one year. The offence text does not expressly criminalize mere use or mere possession under this designation; the designation does not create a narcotics-style blanket possession/use offence. Procedural and record-keeping obligations and exceptions are distinct from ordinary consumer availability.

Listed in Anlage II of the Betäubungsmittelgesetz (Narcotics Act) since July 26, 2012. Manufacturing, possession, import, export, purchase, sale, procurement, and dispensing without a license are prohibited.³⁸

Controlled as a Class B substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 through the cathinone catch-all clause, which covers synthetic cathinone derivatives.⁶¹

Classified as a stupéfiant (recognized drug of abuse) under French drug legislation. Possession, purchase, sale, and manufacture are prohibited.³⁷