DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
32 Results - Showing 1 to 10
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Releases 2016 Drug Threat Assessment: Fentanyl-related Overdose Deaths Rising At An Alarming Rate

WASHINGTON - DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg today announced results from the 2016 National Drug Threat (NDTA), which details the extent to which illicit drugs are affecting the United States. Most notably, the 2016 NDTA continues to illuminate the nationwide opioid epidemic, which is fueling a growing heroin user population...
PRESS RELEASE

$20,000 Awarded To Schools In 2016 National Red Ribbon Weekar Photo Contest

WASHINGTON - ‘Tis the season for giving! Today, 20 creative teams across the nation found out they are winners of $1,000 each from the National Family Partnership and the Drug Enforcement Administration as part of the National Red Ribbon Week Photo Contest. The 10 winning families who decorated their homes...
PRESS RELEASE

Dirty Doctor Pleads Guilty To Writing Illegal Opioid Prescriptions For Patients

SAN DIEGO - Physician Naga Raja Thota, a pain specialist with an office in El Cajon, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday, admitting that he fraudulently and illegally wrote prescriptions for hundreds of oxycodone and hydrocodone tablets for patients with no medical necessity, one of whom was a sex partner...
PRESS RELEASE

Major International Drug Traffickers Extradited For Importing Narcotics Into The United States

SAN DIEGO - Roberto Ponce-Rocha was extradited from Colombia on November 17, 2016, where he had been arrested for charges arising out of his leadership role in a drug trafficking conspiracy involving the transportation of large-scale quantities of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine into the United States. As part of the...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Schedules Deadly Synthetic Drug U-47700

WASHINGTON - Responding to the imminent threat to public health and safety, the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) has placed U-47700 into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, effective on November 14th. Emergency scheduling of dangerous drugs such as U-47700 on a temporary basis is one of the most significant...
PRESS RELEASE

San Diego Area Prescription Take Back Numbers Released

SAN DIEGO - The final tally is in from the 12th National Prescription Take-Back Day which took place Saturday, October 22, and DEA and its partners took back nearly 8,000 pounds of prescription drugs at 39 locations in San Diego County and four in Imperial County. Over the course of...
PRESS RELEASE

Americans Flock To National Drug Take Back Day

OCT 28 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Six years after the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) launched its National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, Americans continue to turn out in large numbers to rid their homes of unused medications, including controlled prescription (CPDs) such as painkillers, tranquilizers, and stimulants. On October 22...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Is Saturday

SAN DIEGO - America is presently experiencing an epidemic of addiction, overdose and death due to abuse of prescription drugs, particularly opioid painkillers. 6.4 million Americans age 12 and over-2.4 percent of the population-abuse prescription drugs, according to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health released last month...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA And Partners Hold Prescription Drug Take Back Day Saturday

WASHINGTON - DEA reprises this weekend one of its most popular community programs: National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. On Saturday October 22 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the public can dispose of their unused, unwanted prescription medications at one of 4,700 collection sites nationwide, operated by 3,800 local...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Kicks Off Red Ribbon Campaign

WASHINGTON - The United States Drug Enforcement (DEA) this week kicks off its annual Red Ribbon Campaign, the nation’s largest drug prevention effort. The National Red Ribbon Campaign began after drug traffickers in Mexico tortured and brutally murdered Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in March 1985. Officially, Red Ribbon Week...