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...

LOS ANGELES - Two doctors who each operated medical offices in Lynwood have been arrested on federal drug charges that allege they issued prescriptions for narcotics and sedatives without a medical purpose. The doctors - Sonny Oparah, 75, of Long Beach, and Edward Ridgill, 64, of Ventura - surrendered to...

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...

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...

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...

LOS ANGELES - As a result of a drug distribution conspiracy and racketeering indictment issued last week by a federal grand jury, 31 members and associates of a Santa Fe Springs-based street gang were arrested today on charges related to a wide-ranging criminal enterprise controlled by a member of the...

HONOLULU - Chief United States District Judge J. Michael Seabright on Tuesday sentenced Aaron Hu, 52, of Kailua, to 46 months imprisonment for possessing with intent to distribute a quantity of methamphetamine and heroin within 1,000 feet of a public elementary school on March 30, 2015. Hu was convicted on...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A federal grand jury has indicted a doctor who operated a medical clinic in Fountain Valley, as well as two physician assistants who worked at the clinic, on federal drug trafficking charges that allege they issued prescriptions for dangerous and addictive narcotics without a medical purpose...

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles-area doctor was arrested this morning after being indicted on federal “structuring” charges that allege he made hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash deposits designed to circumvent federal reporting requirements. Dr. Washington Bryan II, 47, was arrested this morning at his residence in Westwood...

LOS ANGELES - An El Monte man who pleaded guilty to four separate crimes related to gang activity has been sentenced to serve 210 months in federal prison. Christian “Bossy” Lafargo, 30, was sentenced Thursday by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including...