It's like talking about developing "an active loperamide analog that is 100 times more potent than fentanyl!"- putting aside the fact that loperamide was developed from fentanyl, if you discovered a new active opiate derived from loperamides structure you wouldn't get a special pass, you'd simply be prosecuted under the fentanyl analog laws...what with it probably qualifying as a fentanyl analog. It's the same thing here- I think people have simply been taking MXE and telling themselves 'this isn't covered by the analog act because ketamine is schedule III' until they've really, truly started to believe it. Maybe they're right- all I'm saying is that the DEA seems to do and convict who it pleases as it pleases, if they wanted to 'take on MXE' they would, they would probably simply use the preexisting PCX-analog laws and build a case around 'proving' MXE is NOT a ketamine analog, but rather is a PCE analog thus quite fucking illegal. More illegal than, say, 2C-B. At the same time you could also argue that bupropion, being a phenthalylamine, is a 2C-B analog- it's not like we're dealing with well written or rational legislation here. It's intentionally vauge so that they CAN selectively prosecute and MXE definately something they'd want to prosecute, if only to discourage 'underground research'.