United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has seen an increase in burglaries at independent pharmacies across the country. Nearly 900 burglaries involving the theft of controlled substances were reported to DEA in 2023. Stolen prescription medications adversely impact these small businesses while also putting patients and the community at...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced today a settlement with pharmaceutical distributor Morris & Dickson Co., LLC for failing to maintain effective controls against diversion of controlled substances, including failure to report to DEA thousands of unusually large orders of oxycodone and hydrocodone. Morris & Dickson, which...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced administrative actions against six DEA-registered companies which, together, failed to account for more than a million doses of opioids. Under DEA initiative “Operation Bottleneck,” DEA served an Immediate Suspension Order and five Orders to Show Cause over a one-month period from...

El Paso, Texas – On Saturday October 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Drug Enforcement Administration and various local agencies will host DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day at locations across the country. DEA and its partners will collect tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of...

WASHINGTON – Today, ahead of the expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued the “Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications” – a temporary rule that extends telemedicine flexibilities...

WASHINGTON - Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced proposed permanent rules for the prescribing of controlled medications via telemedicine, expanding patient access to critical therapies beyond the scheduled end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The public will be able to comment for 30 days on the proposed rules. The...

WASHINGTON -- Today, DEA served an Order to Show Cause on Truepill, a retail pharmacy that is alleged to have wrongfully filled thousands of prescriptions for stimulants used in the treatment of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Truepill was the pharmacy for telehealth companies, including Cerebral, that marketed ADHD treatments, including...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced today that Joe’s Pharmacy of Peralta, New Mexico, has agreed to pay to the United States $50,000 representing civil penalties under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The agreement settles civil claims against Joe’s Pharmacy...

EL PASO, Texas – Dr. Herbert Nassour, a former physician in El Paso, has agreed to pay $350,000 under a civil settlement to resolve allegations he violated certain provisions of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Dr. Nassour was a physician registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe and...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Mark Beale, 75, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, pleaded guilty on March 25 in federal court to unlawful dispensing and distributing of a schedule II controlled substance. Beale will remain on conditions of release pending sentencing. A federal grand jury indicted Beale on June 23, 2021. According...