WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) today announced its intention to place the active materials in the kratom plant into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act in order to avoid an imminent hazard to public safety. Mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are found in kratom, which is a tropical tree indigenous...

WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced several marijuana- related actions, including actions regarding scientific research and scheduling of marijuana, as well as principles on the cultivation of industrial hemp under the Agricultural Act of 2014. DEA Publishes Responses to Two Pending Petitions to Reschedule Marijuana - DEA has denied...

PORTLAND, Ore. - A federal grand jury sitting in Portland, Oregon returned a 39-count indictment against Julie Ann Demille, 58, of Clackamas, Oregon, a nurse practitioner licensed in Oregon, Osasuyi Kenneth Idumwonyi, 55, of Spring, Texas, her office manager, and a total of 17 other co-conspirator defendants in a case...

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills, many containing deadly amounts of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds, have made their way into the U.S. drug market, according to a DEA intelligence report released today. Law enforcement nationwide report higher fentanyl availability, seizures, and known overdose deaths than at any...

SPOKANE, Wash. - Domingo (a.k.a. Junior), 28, of Pasco, Washington, was sentenced on July 20, 2016, to a life term in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of murder in connection with a drug-trafficking conspiracy. Senior United States District Judge W. Fremming Nielsen also imposed two 30-year terms...

EUGENE, Ore. - Nicholas Jacobson and his twin brother Matthew Jacobson, 30, of Jackson County Oregon, were sentenced to prison on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken for conspiracy to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. Nicholas Jacobson was sentenced to 97 months in prison...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Todd Alan Nelson, 51, of Salem, Oregon, was sentenced on July 12, 2016, to a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, followed by a consecutive five-year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of a firearm during and in relation...

SEATTLE - The Department of Justice announced on July 7, 2016, that it has reached a settlement with Seattle Cancer Care (SCCA) relating to losses of more than 96,000 pills of oxycodone between 2011 and 2013. SCCA self-reported the diversions after discovering that a nurse employed at the cancer care...

WASHINGTON - The United States Drug Enforcement (DEA) released the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary - (NHTA) today. The report outlines the expanding public health crisis afflicting America due to the use and abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs. Some key facts: The number of people reporting current...

SEATTLE - One of the leaders of a drug smuggling ring that moved loads of drugs across the northern border with Canada in devices ranging from helicopters to backpacks was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years in prison. Sean William Doak, 42 of Vernon, British...