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DOJ and DEA Take Aim at Opioid Epidemic with New Quotas
HONOLULU – In a bid to combat the opioid crisis, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has proposed a 10% reduction in the manufacturing quotas for six frequently misused opioids, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone, morphine, and fentanyl, for 2019.
This move is consistent with President Trump’s ‘Safe Prescribing Plan,’ which aims to cut nationwide opioid prescription fills by one-third within three years. The proposed reduction, which marks the third straight year of quota cuts, is designed to reduce the amount of drugs potentially diverted for trafficking and used to facilitate addiction.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, ‘The opioid epidemic that we are facing today is the worst drug crisis in American history… Cutting opioid production quotas by an average of ten percent next year will help us continue that progress and make it harder to divert these drugs for abuse.’
U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii, Kenji M. Price, added, ‘Across the country, and even here in Hawaii, the opioid epidemic is taking precious lives. We applaud this effort by the DEA to stem the tide of this epidemic by seeking to limit the ways in which these drugs are able to make their way into our communities here in Hawaii.’
The DEA has proposed the reduction based on data from various sources, including estimates of legitimate medical need from the Food and Drug Administration, retail consumption based on prescriptions dispensed, and manufacturers’ disposition history and forecasts.
Once the aggregate quota is set, DEA allocates individual manufacturing and procurement quotas to those manufacturers that apply for them. The agency may revise a company’s quota at any time during the year if change is warranted due to increased or decreased sales or exports.
DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon said, ‘We’ve lost too many lives to the opioid epidemic and families and communities suffer tragic consequences every day. This significant drop in prescriptions by doctors and DEA’s production quota adjustment will continue to reduce the amount of drugs available for illicit diversion and abuse while ensuring that patients will continue to have access to proper medicine.’
Key Facts
- State: Hawaii
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime|Sex Crimes|Cybercrime|Public Corruption|Weapons|Human Trafficking|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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