DEA responds to explosive “60 Minutes” report about opioid crisis
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/opioid-crisis-dea-responds-60-minutes-report/
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and the Drug Enforcement Administration are facing tough questions following an explosive joint investigation by “60 Minutes” and The Washington Post that says Congress helped disarm the DEA.
Drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than doubled over the past decade. The CDC says 188,000 people have died from opioid overdoses from 1999 to 2015.
Joe Rannazzisi used to run the DEA’s diversion control. He told “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker that the opioid crisis was aided in part by Congress, lobbyists and the drug distribution industry.
The DEA says it has taken actions against far fewer opioid distributors under a new law. A Justice Department memo shows 65 doctors, pharmacies and drug companies received suspension orders in 2011. Only six of them have gotten them this year.
“This is an industry that’s out of control”
The DEA has issued no suspension orders against a distributor for nearly two years. It says in a statement it will continue to “use all the tools at our disposal to combat this epidemic.”
“During the past seven years, we have removed approximately 900 registrations annually, preventing reckless doctors and rogue businesses from making an already troubling problem worse,” the DEA said in a written statement. “Increasingly, our investigators initiated more than 10,000 cases and averaged more than 2,000 arrests per year.”
CBS News’ Paula Reid reports the Justice Department, which overseas the DEA, does not dispute any of the “60 Minutes” reporting. It says the drug crisis is a top priority for the Trump administration.
“One of the president’s and the attorney general’s highest priorities is ending the devastating and unacceptable drug crisis in America that saw 64,000 deaths in 2016, many of them caused by opioids,” Ian D. Prior, principal deputy director of public affairs at the Justice Department, said in a written statement. “From street dealers to corrupt doctors to the distributors that allow diversion of deadly pills, this administration is absolutely committed to reversing this disturbing and heartbreaking trend and will use every tool available to do so.”
But as the “60 Minutes” report detailed, the DEA’s efforts may have been undermined by the so-called “revolving door” culture in Washington.
At least 46 investigators, attorneys and supervisors from the DEA, including 32 directly from the division that regulates the drug industry, have been hired by the pharmaceutical industry since the scrutiny on distributors began.
Did the government and drug industry fuel America’s opioid epidemic?
Among them is Linden Barber, former associate chief council at the DEA. He’s now a senior vice president at Cardinal Health, one of the nation’s top drug distributors.
Mike Gill, chief of staff for the former acting DEA administrator, was hired by one of the country’s largest healthcare law firms.
And most recently, Jason Hadges, a senior DEA attorney overseeing enforcement, joined the pharmaceutical division of a high-powered D.C. law firm.
CBS News reached out to former acting DEA administrator Chuck Rosenberg, who oversaw the agency from May 2015 until earlier this month when he stepped down. He said he has not seen the “60 Minutes” story and does not intend to do so.
Filed under: General Problems
The dea IS OUT OF CONTROL,, and they need to separate lawful medicine from drugs sold on the streets..That is how it use to be,,that is what works and worked for over 200 years,,and the way it need to go back to!!!yesterday,,Also ,”informed,” consent need to be honored in every court room again,,At any time,,any adult human can sy ,,”NO,” fact those pills do not jump out of the bottle into ones mouth,,do they???NO,,,,,,maryw
I think the DEA and government officials are the one’s who’ve gone rouge! Doctors of Courage has a great website that documents how the disgraced DEA is nowadays going after legitimate board certified pain management doctors. I guess the DEA finds it easier to attack law abiding citizens and their doctors, and then the nerve of civil assets forfeiture against the doctors while they await their trial, and they’re left with no money for their defense, or their families needs. It really blows my mind!
I’m 99% sure that the pill mills are shut down all across the country, and the doctors they are going after now are truly legitimate doctors. The DEA is wrecking pain patients lives, and scaring the hell out of our doctors and pharmacies. In some areas patients have no where left to turn for their medications that they’ve been using for years and years, but now they’re forced to turn to the streets to try and find relief.
People in horrible daily pain cannot expect to get better, but they had an expectation of having their symptoms managed through pain medication. I’m aware that pain medication is not healing my screwed up neck, shoulders, back or arm pain, but it does provide a reprieve from the pain, even if just for a few hours.
I cannot comprehend that the majority of us chronic pain patients must suffer because a handful of “others” couldn’t follow the directions on the dang bottle! Trying to save people from themselves at the expense of others is what this boils down to.
Was the DEA perhaps out of control?