WASHINGTON D.C. - China’s National Narcotics Control Commission announced this week that scheduling controls against four fentanyl-class substances - carfentanil, furanyl fentanyl, valeryl fentanyl, and acryl fentanyl - will begin on March 1, 2017. This announcement is the culmination of ongoing collaboration between the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the Government...

ORMAND BEACH, Florida - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) Central Florida Region Office arrested Howard Perch near his residence in Ormond Beach, Florida, on charges of obtaining controlled substances by fraud and providing false info to obtain them. Perch is the Executive Director of Florida Hospital Oceanside in Ormond Beach, Florida...

WASHINGTON - DEA and the Southern District of New York today announced the arrival of four individuals from Kenya to New York charged with participating in a massive global drug trafficking enterprise, and includes the leader of a well-known organized crime family in Africa. BAKTASH AKASHA ABDALLA, a/k/a “Baktash Akasha,”...

MONGOMERY, Ala. - Dr. Robert M. Ritchea, 54, of LaGrange, Georgia, pled guilty to conspiring to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance through operating a “pill mill” and money laundering scheme, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Bret Hamilton and United States Attorney George L. Beck, Jr. A “pill mill”...

WASHINGTON - Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates today announced that Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known by various aliases including “El Chapo,” will face charges filed in Brooklyn, New York, following his extradition to the United States from Mexico, alleging that he was operating a continuing criminal enterprise and other...

WASHINGTON - Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known by various aliases including “El Chapo,” has arrived in the United States to face criminal charges in connection with his leadership of the Mexican organized crime syndicate known as the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzman Loera is charged in six separate indictments throughout the United...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Three defendants were sentenced to federal prison last week for drug trafficking, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Matthew Barden and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Santiago (aka Chuco), age 47, of Commerce, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 151...

WASHINGTON - McKesson (McKesson), one of the nation’s largest distributors of pharmaceutical drugs, agreed to pay a record $150 million civil penalty for alleged violations of the Controlled Substances (CSA), the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced today. The nationwide settlement requires McKesson to suspend sales of controlled substances from distribution...

WASHINGTON - At the invitation of the China Ministry of Public (MPS), the Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg visited China this week to discuss issues of mutual concern and to build on DEA’s existing relationship with Chinese counter-narcotics law enforcement authorities. Rosenberg emphasized the increased cooperation between the...

MIAMI - There are just four days left to see the DEA traveling museum exhibit Drugs: Costs & Consequences - at the Museum of Science and Discovery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This exhibit offers both a visual and written outlook on the cost of drugs, drugs and the body, drugs...