DEA Is About to Demonstrate “How Little They Know About What They Imagine They Can Design”

Jeffrey A. SingerLast month the Drug Enforcement Administration, tasked with setting quotas for opioid production in the U.S,announced a proposal to reduce production levels another 10 percent, having already reduced production by 25 percent in 2017 and an additional 20 percent in 2018. This would bring down production levels to 53 percent of 2016 levels. Yesterday the DEA released aproposal to develop “use-specific” quotas. The DEA press release explains this as follows:Today ’s proposal amends the manner in which DEA grants quotas to manufacturers for maintaining inventories…The proposal also introduces several new types of quotas that DEA would grant to certain DEA-registered manufacturers. These use-specific quotas include quantities of controlled substances for u se in commercial sales, product development, packaging/repackaging and labeling/relabeling, or replacement for quantities destroyed.The rationale behind the production quotas is to reduce the amount of prescription opioids that can be diverted into the black market for non-medical use. But last month ’s DEA quota proposal stated (Federal Register page 48172):As a result of considering the extent of diversion, DEA notes that the quantity of FDA-approved drug products that correlate to controlled substances in 2018 represents less than one percent of the total quantity of controlled substances distributed to retail purchasers.Therefore, it appears that diversion of prescription opioids into the black mar...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs