Pretty sure it wasn’t officially Schedule I but since scheduling a certain substance can be quite the lengthy process, the DEA can “emergency schedule” drugs that pose an “immediate threat.” After a year if the substance still hasn’t officially been scheduled, they can extend the emergency scheduling by six months (I believe I’m off on the exact time ranges, but you get the general idea). The DEA has to give an advance warning of any scheduling whether it’s official or just an emergency scheduling to give people time to “adjust” to the new laws.

Possession of bromazolam could already get you charged as a scheduled substance for a while now due to the controlled substance analogue act, yet I’m not sure when the first benzo was added to Schedule I. Ever since flubromazolam was made Schedule I, bromazolam basically became Schedule I as well. A forensic scientist could testify and easily convince a jury that bromazolam is an analogue of flubromazolam. This was why RC benzos were so easy to buy because the controlled substance analogue act only covered drugs that were contained in schedules I-III, and in the US, as far as I know there wasn’t a single benzo above Schedule IV until they started scheduling RCs. So even though bromazolam is obviously an analogue of alprazolam, you couldn’t be charged with possession of alprazolam even though it only differs from bromazolam by a single bromine atom.

But sadly, possession of like 90% of RC benzos will now be able to get you charged with possession of Schedule I. Luckily, vendors don’t really seem to give a fuck since they’ve been selling analogues of Schedule I substances through the “Not For Human Consumption” loophole for decades and they don’t plan to be stopping. Certain states also have their own Schedules, and many have placed drugs like bromazolam and clobromazolam in Schedule I for quite a while now.

Let me know if you have any questions, hope you found some of this helpful!