WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced several marijuana- related actions, including actions regarding scientific research and scheduling of marijuana, as well as principles on the cultivation of industrial hemp under the Agricultural Act of 2014. DEA Publishes Responses to Two Pending Petitions to Reschedule Marijuana - DEA has denied...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced the unsealing of a criminal complaint against Shannon Christopher Ceasar, 43, a physician who practices in Metairie and resides in New Orleans. On Friday, July 22, 2016, Ceasar was arrested...

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills, many containing deadly amounts of fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds, have made their way into the U.S. drug market, according to a DEA intelligence report released today. Law enforcement nationwide report higher fentanyl availability, seizures, and known overdose deaths than at any...

BATON ROUGE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brad L. Byerley and United States Attorney Walt Green announced the results of another federal prosecution related to drug trafficking of heroin pills pressed to resemble Oxycodone. On Tuesday, July 12, 2016, a U.S. District Judge sentenced Brandon...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Ruben Hernandez, 39, of southern Florida, pleaded guilty on Thursday, July 7, 2016 in federal court to charges stemming from his role in the operation of a “pill mill” that existed in Opelika, Alabama between 2012 and 2013, announced Clay Morris, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that Noe Juarez, a resident of Houston, Texas, was sentenced today by a U.S. District Chief Judge to serve 365 months in prison for his role in a large-scale drug...

WASHINGTON - The United States Drug Enforcement (DEA) released the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary - (NHTA) today. The report outlines the expanding public health crisis afflicting America due to the use and abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs. Some key facts: The number of people reporting current...

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that 12 defendants who were all part of a drug trafficking organization in the Fort Smith area were sentenced to federal prison this...

BATON ROUGE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and United States Attorney Walt Green announced yet another conviction arising from Operation Goldy Locks, an extensive investigation into a multi-state heroin enterprise. Efrain Barajas, 27, of Hesperia, California, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to distribute...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced the recent unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging an array of federal narcotics and firearm violations by members of a drug trafficking organization operating in south Louisiana. The Superseding Indictment...