Resolving chemical names in the NSW Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act: a cheminformatics analysis of statutory drug nomenclature and its evolution

Using the NSW Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 Schedule 1 of prohibited plants or prohibited drugs as an example of legislation that may be difficult for a computer search engine to resolve, an approach to produce valid chemical names and identifiers from the schedule entries is described and implemented. Out of the present Schedule of 342 discrete chemical names only 8 remained entirely unresolved. The original 1985 Schedule 1 contained 95 discrete names, with all but one resolved. The more than three-fold increase in prohibited substances between 1985 and 2026 is attributed to more directly specifying drugs and the rise of a diverse range of new chemical compounds, including synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, analogues of fentanyl, new NBOMe’s, benzodiazapines, anabolic steroids and novel pharmaceuticals. There is ambiguity in resolving names in Schedule 1, and not specifying stereochemistry is a problem with the present legislation.