DEA's Crackdown on Pain Medication Abuse: Out of Step
Published Online: Monday, February 6th, 2012

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USA Today reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) “have expanded their crackdown on painkiller abuse, charging a major health care company and two CVS pharmacies in Florida with violating their licenses to sell powerful pain ‘medications’ and other drugs.” The agency “linked Cardinal Health to unusually high shipments of the controlled drugs to four pharmacies. On Friday, the DEA suspended Cardinal’s controlled substances license at its Lakeland, Fla., distribution center, which services 2500 pharmacies in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.”

For some time, I have been wondering if the DEA, in its current focus, is an agency out of step with the needs we have today. Although I personally have not reached the point where we need to decriminalize the use of controlled substances, I do feel that we shouldn’t expect legitimate licensed agencies like drug wholesalers to be expected to accomplish what law enforcement agencies are not able to do.

I have spoken to some executives of pharmaceutical wholesalers who feel that the DEA expectations are impossible to meet. It seems to me that we end up putting controls on the legitimate elements in health care while the offenders keep doing wrong.

To me, another example of the way the DEA is out of step is in how they have been so slow in developing mechanisms to use e-prescribing with controlled substances. They have certainly not demonstrated any leadership in this arena.

I applaud Cardinal Health for taking the DEA on, not because we don’t want to get Pain Clinic prescription mills closed down—but because we don’t want to do it at the expense of legitimate providers who are truly meeting patient needs.

What do you think about the role DEA is now playing in health care?

dr steven Hefter February 20th, 2012 04:02:0304:03:06 PM

to add to this--when I find a patient who I have listed on the data base for controlled substances as getting from multiple docs--I try to get the patient stopped but no agency wants this!! I call dea, local cops, state cops, FBI-- no one goes after the patient lying to get the drugs but if I forget to check the database then I__the doc is punished--even after the patient changes DOB or SS# to get meds!! We legally cannot even call the other doctors to alert them of this!

Rob Wenzl February 20th, 2012 05:02:1705:17:38 PM

Dr. Hefter,
I disagree with your comment about not legally being able to contact other doctors to alert them of possible diversion. The law not only clearly allows this but places a duty on the physician and pharmacist to do so.

On the other hand I whole heartedly agree with the remainder of your comment and this article as a whole.

Your comments are valuable to us. Thank you.

Fred Eckel, RPh, MS, Editor-in-Chief of Pharmacy Times

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This blog focuses on what our Editor-in-Chief sees as the future of pharmacy.

Author Bio

Fred Eckel, RPh, MS, is the Editor-in-Chief of Pharmacy Times, a position he has held since 2002. Mr. Eckel is a professor at the Edelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as executive director of the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists.

In this blog, Eckel will provide commentary on relevant issues impacting pharmacists and pharmacy professionals, including the merging of pharmacy benefit managers, the implications of health care reform, the conversion of major drugs from prescription to over-the-counter, trends in pharmacy careers, and opioid abuse. He will also discuss legislative issues that impact pharmacists, and comment on the evolving role of the pharmacist.