The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Office of Diversion Control, sponsored the 16th National Conference on Drug and Chemical Diversion June 5-7, 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The meeting was attended by individuals from approximately 25 states responsible for policy-level regulatory drug control and operational law enforcement affecting the diversion of licitly manufactured controlled substances.

This conference is held on a yearly basis and is one of the mechanisms used by the Office of Diversion Control to facilitate continued communication and cooperation with our state and local counterparts.

The conference focused on the growing trend of prescription drug abuse and strategies being taken by federal and state authorities to stem illegal activities without adversely impacting legitimate health care systems. Agenda items included issues such as methadone mortality, pain policy, illicit Internet sales, a DEA legal update, and a state/region breakout session with DEA counterparts.

See below for all PowerPoint presentations provided to DEA for dissemination.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Office of Diversion Control, sponsored the 16th National Conference on Drug and Chemical Diversion June 5-7, 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The meeting was attended by individuals from approximately 25 states responsible for policy-level regulatory drug control and operational law enforcement affecting the diversion of licitly manufactured controlled substances.

The conference opened with a welcome by Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC) of the Miami Field Division. SAC Trouville continued with a brief overview of the drug and chemical situations in the Miami area and what the division is doing to attack the problem areas.

SAC Trouville concluded by introducing Barbara McGrath, Diversion Program Manager, Miami Field Division. Ms. McGrath discussed the priority that Diversion is receiving at the federal level with support from both President Bush and DEA Administrator Karen Tandy.

Chief Mark Caverly from DEA’s Liaison and Policy Section served as the master of ceremonies making administrative announcements and introducing the various speakers. Mr. Caverly had all attendees including DEA staff that were present introduce themselves and went on to set the tone and objectives for the meeting. Among other comments, he noted that over half of the states were represented at the conference.

The conference was organized in keeping with the mission of the Diversion Control Program: to prevent, detect, and investigate the diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances and listed chemicals from legitimate channels while ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply of pharmaceutical controlled substances and listed chemicals to meet legitimate medical, commercial and scientific needs.

The focus of the conference included methadone mortality, pain policy, illicit Internet sales, a DEA legal update, and a state/region breakout session with DEA counterparts. Each presentation was followed with a question and answer session to promote the exchange of ideas. A short summary of each presentation follows.

The first presentation was Internet Investigations by Matthew Murphy, Chief of DEA’s Pharmaceutical Investigations Section and Staff Coordinator Christopher Grush (See PowerPoint). DEA’s strategy was provided as it relates to the diversion via the internet and a recent internet investigation case was presented.

Grant Carrow, Secretary/Treasurer for the National Association of State Controlled Substance Authorities (NASCSA) provided a brief overview of the organization (See PowerPoint).

Day two began with a Methadone Panel with Gretchen Feussner, Pharmacologist, DEA’s Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section, Nick Reuter, Senior Public Health Advisor, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Joe Spillane, Clinical Pharmacist, University of Florida. The methadone mortality issue that is currently facing the United States was discussed by the panel. (See PowerPoint presentations for specifics.)

Mark Caverly, Chief of DEA’s Liaison and Policy Section presented a Regulatory Update (See PowerPoint presentation). Mr. Caverly covered the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, Multiple Prescriptions, Controlled Substances Reexport rule, Single Sheet DEA Form 222, Multiple State Practice, Iodine and Chemical Mixtures, and pending policy clarifications.

Cathy Gallagher, Associate Chief of DEA’s Liaison and Policy Section and Al Cheeseman, DPM, Seattle Filed Division discussed Pharmacy Drug Theft. Mrs. Gallagher presented an overview of DEA’s updated Pharmacy Theft Prevention Program that is available to states that are seeing a rise in pharmacy thefts (See PowerPoint). Mr. Cheeseman provided a pharmacy theft case overview that was confidential in nature.

Trena Jones, Staff Coordinator, DEA’s Pharmaceutical Investigations Section provided an overview of the information that can be found on the DEA website under the Cases Against Doctors section. The published list was developed in August 2006 at the request of DEA Administrator Tandy and includes arrest (federal and state) listings of all medical doctors and osteopaths. Mrs. Jones reminded attendees that less than 1/10 of 1% of DEA's registrants ever has an action against them.

Lisa Barnhill, Staff Coordinator, DEA’s Domestic Chemical Operations Section gave an update on the chemical situation throughout the world including quotas and import requests (See PowerPoint presentation).

Day Three began with Mary Johnson-Rocheé, Deputy Chief, of DEA’s Registration and Program Support Section, giving an update on DEA’s continued efforts to streamline the registration program (See PowerPoint presentation). Additionally, Mrs. Rochee told attendees that states may now request access to receive on-line weekly updates of all DEA CSA data for all 50 states.

Linden Barber, Associate Chief Counsel, DEA’s Office of Chief Counsel provided updates on federal criminal, civil and administrative cases that DEA has been involved with recently. Mr. Barber also discussed the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act and proposed federal legislation on the Internet. Mr. Barber also stressed the continued need to form state and federal partnerships to prevent diversion.

The conference concluded with an Open Forum led by Mark Caverly who then gave the closing remarks.