Mephedrone is not listed for control in the UN Drugs Conventions of 1961 or 1971. In 16 Member States, mephedrone is not controlled under the terms of the 1961 or 1971 UN Conventions.

Eleven Member States — Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom (8) — as well as Croatia and Norway control mephedrone under drug control legislation.

In Belgium, the Royal Decree of 13 June 2010 includes the substance in Art 2, §2 of the Royal Decree of 22 January 1998, which contains the Belgian list of controlled psychotropics. In Denmark, effective from 21 December 2008, the Ministry of Health and Prevention added
mephedrone and other synthetic cathinone derivatives (e.g. ethylcathinone and flephedrone) to list B of controlled substances — mephedrone may only be used for medical or scientific purposes. In Germany, as of 22 January 2010, mephedrone is controlled by the 24th Amending Regulation on Narcotic Drugs. Within this regulation mephedrone falls under schedule I of the Narcotics Act (BtMG) (‘narcotics not eligible for trade and medical prescription’). In Estonia, mephedrone is controlled as of 27 November 2009 by Regulation N. 87 of the Ministry of Social Affairs, which added the substance to the first list of narcotic and psychotropic substances.

In Ireland, since 11 May 2010, mephedrone and related cathinones are designated by name as controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, by SI No199 of 2010. In France, mephedrone and its salts are classed as narcotics by the decree of 7 June 2010 of the Ministry of Health and Sports, effective 11 June 2010. In Italy, on 16 June 2010 a Ministry of Health Decree added mephedrone to Table I of the drug control law. In Lithuania, mephedrone was included in the first list in the list of ‘Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances prohibited for medical use’ on 20 June 2010 by the order of the Minister of Health No. V-540. In Romania, as of 10 February 2010, mephedrone has been added by Government decision to Table 1 of law 13/2000 in the category of ‘drugs of highest risk’. In Sweden, mephedrone has been controlled as a narcotic drug since 25 May 2009. In the United Kingdom, mephedrone and other cathinone derivatives (using a generic definition) have been added to the list of controlled drugs in Class B by the SI no. 1207 of 2010 as of 16 April 2010. In Croatia, mephedrone is controlled under drug control legislation as a psychotropic since 4 January 2010 (OG 02/10). In Norway, mephedrone was earlier controlled by virtue of an ‘analogue’ approach, considered as a ‘derivative’ of a listed substance. Nevertheless, it was specifically added to the Norwegian National Drug List with effect from 24 March 2010.

Two Member States — the Netherlands and Finland — apply control measures to mephedrone under their medicines legislation. In the Netherlands, mephedrone is classified as a medicine and is therefore controlled under medicinal products legislation. In Finland, mephedrone is classified as a medicine since September 2008 under the Medicines act (395/87).

(8) In European Union protocol order.