DEA launches new crackdown on pharmacies and opioid over-prescribers
Sari Horwitz and Scott Higham
The Washington Post
January 30th, 2018
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Sari Horwitz and Scott Higham
The Washington Post
January 30th, 2018
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that over the next 45 days, a "surge" of Drug Enforcement Administration agents and investigators will focus on pharmacies and prescribers who are dispensing unusual or disproportionate amounts of opioid drugs.
To intensify the fight against what is called "prescription drug diversion," the DEA will examine data from approximately 80 million reports it collects every year from prescription drug manufacturers and distributors, Sessions said.
The data includes distribution and inventory figures, and analysts will look for patterns and statistical outliers that can be developed into targeting packages, or information used to identify those suspected of breaking the law, and sent to each of the DEA's 22 field divisions, a Justice Department official said.
"That will help us make more arrests, secure more convictions and ultimately help us reduce the number of prescription drugs available for Americans to get addicted to or overdose from," Sessions said in a speech to law enforcement officials in Louisville.
The call for more firepower comes as states and communities grapple with the worst health crisis in modern U.S. history. Prescription drug overdoses have claimed nearly 200,000 lives since 2000, and the death toll continues to rise each year. In October, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency.
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