United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEW ORLEANS – The Drug Enforcement Administration, along with its law enforcement partners, has removed close to 745,000 pounds of unneeded prescriptions from medicine cabinets across the country as part of DEA’s ongoing commitment to turn the tide against the U.S. opioid epidemic. Following last month’s 21st National Prescription Drug...

NEW ORLEANS – The Drug Enforcement Administration will host its 21st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event offers free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at more than 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide. According to a report published...

NEW ORLEANS - Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a Public Safety Alert warning Americans of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. DEA’s Public Safety Alert, the first in six years, seeks to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide...

NEW ORLEANS - Today, at a press conference, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram announced a significant law enforcement surge to protect American communities from the flood of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills across the United States. Illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid found in most of...

NEW ORLEANS – DEA is alerting all citizens to an increase in drug overdose deaths tied to counterfeit pills containing the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. Manufactured by Mexican drug trafficking (DTOs), and marketed as a medication such as oxycodone on the illicit drug market, these pills can be deadly. One...

NEW ORLEANS – Today the United States Drug Enforcement Administration launched a new comprehensive law enforcement and prevention initiative aimed at reducing drug use, abuse, and overdose deaths. “Operation Engage” allows participating field divisions to focus on the biggest drug threat and resulting violence in their respective geographic areas. The...

NEW ORLEANS - Cornell Pendleton, age 51, of the Gentilly neighborhood in New Orleans, was sentenced today for his role in laundering money on behalf of heroin dealers in the New Orleans area, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A...

SHREVEPORT, La. - A Texas man was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison for conspiring to transport methamphetamine and cocaine, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brad L. Byerley and Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook. Erasmo Aviles Jr., 35, of Spring, Texas, was...

JACKSON, Miss. - Charlie Lee Martin, 54, of Jackson, Mississippi, and Shredewrick Anderson, 42, of Lancaster, California, were sentenced on December 12, 2017, by a U.S. District Judge for their roles in a drug conspiracy, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney Mike...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - On Friday, December 8, 2017, Dr. Shepherd A. Odom, 78, of Alexander City, Alabama, pleaded guilty to charges of drug distribution and conspiracy to commit money laundering, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Hamilton and United States Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr. Dr...