WASHINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration today announced action against a dangerous designer synthetic cathinone linked to 151 overdose deaths in the United States between 2015 and 2018. Published in today’s Federal Register, DEA’s action puts N-Ethylpentylone into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I substances refer to...

WASHINGTON – The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance today released the Fentanyl Safety Recommendations for First Responders’ companion training video Fentanyl: The Real Deal. The video was produced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to help first responders protect themselves when the presence of fentanyl is suspected...

DETROIT - The Drug Enforcement Administration and United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan today announced that the University of Michigan Health System has agreed to pay the United States $4.3 million as part of a settlement resolving allegations that UMHS violated certain provisions of the Controlled...

DAYTON, Ohio – David Kirkwood, 62, of Dayton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 70 months in prison and five years of supervised release for running a pill mill in Dayton. In August 2017, Kirkwood and his wife, Beverly Kirkwood, pleaded guilty to health care fraud. David Kirkwood...

CELINA, Tenn. -- DEA investigators this week conducted inspections at several pharmacy locations in the Clay County, Tennessee town of Celina, following an inquiry into irregular patterns of pill purchases from drug distribution companies. DEA is now investigating possible criminal activity involving the illicit diversion of controlled prescription pharmaceuticals at...

AKRON, Ohio – Ryan Sumlin, 29, was convicted by a jury earlier this year on charges of distribution of fentanyl and heroin that resulted in death, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute heroin. U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent sentenced Sumlin to life in...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Dr. Gilberto Sanchez, 56, of Montgomery, Alabama, was sentenced to serve 12 years and 1 month in prison for prescribing unnecessary controlled substances to his patients, committing health care fraud, and laundering money, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Hamilton and United States...

WASHINGTON - While in Cleveland, Ohio, Attorney General Jeff Sessions today announced the unsealing of a 43-count indictment in federal court in Cleveland, which charges two Chinese citizens with operating a conspiracy that manufactured and shipped deadly fentanyl analogues and 250 other drugs to at least 25 countries and 37...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Department of Justice has reached an agreement with CVS Pharmacy, Inc. to resolve violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act and its implementing regulations at CVS Pharmacy locations throughout the Northern District of Alabama, announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney...

MEDIA ADVISORY DEA ANNOUNCES 5,456 DRUG-RELATED OVERDOSE DEATHS IN PENNSYLVANIA IN 2017 Contact: Supervisory Special Agent Patrick J. Trainor, Public Information Officer, (215) 852-8740 (PHILADELPHIA) – Jon Wilson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Philadelphia Division, announced today that 5,456 drug-related overdose deaths [1] were reported...