From Ars Technica · · 3m
The DEA banned a drug users called a miracle
Researchers and opioid users say SR-17018 helped people quit without withdrawal. The DEA made it illegal anyway.
In brief
Researchers and opioid users say SR-17018 helped people quit without withdrawal. The DEA made it illegal anyway. The DEA emergency-scheduled SR-17018 as a controlled substance in late August, blocking research and removing a tool some opioid users said helped them quit. Originally reported by Ars Technica.
A researcher finds a safer painkiller
In 2017, Laura Bohn and scientists at University of South Florida Health published research showing SR-17018 relieved pain in mice without causing respiratory depression, the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths.
The compound showed promise in animal tests
Mice using SR-17018 did not develop high tolerance to it. Mice already dependent on morphine could use it to reset their tolerance without suffering painful withdrawal symptoms.
People online called it a godsend
On Reddit and Discord, people who use drugs described SR-17018 as helping them quit opioids they were addicted to. The unregulated compound was relatively easy to purchase online before the ban.
The DEA made it illegal in late August
The US Drug Enforcement Administration emergency-scheduled SR-17018 as a Schedule I controlled substance, placing it in the same category as heroin with no currently accepted medical use and high abuse potential.
The ban blocks research and treatment
Laura Bohn told WIRED the scheduling makes her research impossible. She cannot have SR-17018 made, shipped or touched, halting clinical trials she had been planning to conduct on humans.
“It's a real hassle. Right now, I would like to have it tested for additional safety studies, and I can't have it made, I can't ship it, I can't touch it. I can't do anything.”
Jim Bates quit opioids with SR-17018
The 53-year-old Duncan, Oklahoma kitchen manager had been addicted to various opioids since age 25. About 11 months ago he used SR-17018 to taper off MGM-15 in roughly three weeks without physical withdrawal symptoms.
“I got introduced to SR-17, which was a freaking miracle.”
Another user describes it as a miracle drug
Michael, a former 7-OH user, used SR-17018 to quit in January.He had tried to stop five previous times, each involving three days of hell and another week of feeling low.With SR-17018, anxiety and restlessness vanished.
“the anxiety and the sweating and the restlessness and all that stuff was gone.”
The DEA's reasoning for the ban
The DEA said it found two samples of SR-17018 in two states since 2025 via forensic analysis, and detected some samples on the West Coast.
A lawyer challenges the emergency scheduling
Denver attorney Robert Rush filed a request to stop the ban, arguing SR-17018 has a lower risk profile than other synthetic opioids being scheduled. The DEA never responded to his scientific evidence-based argument.
“It was a very reasonable, well-thought-out, grounded-in-scientific-evidence argument, and they just completely ignored it.”
No overdose deaths linked to SR-17018
Rush says the DEA's emergency scheduling is draconian because SR-17018 has not been implicated in emergency room visits or overdose deaths, unlike the gas station opioids the agency simultaneously banned.
The ban could worsen the overdose crisis
Rush warns that banning gas station opioids while eliminating SR-17018 sets up a perfect storm for another overdose crisis. He says decades of research into a potential next-generation addiction treatment has been shut down.
“I cannot find a compelling reason to shut down a couple of decades' worth of research into something that could either be or lead to the development of next-generation opioid dependency treatment.”
What to remember
The DEA emergency-scheduled SR-17018 as a controlled substance in late August, blocking research and removing a tool some opioid users said helped them quit.
