Review Of The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA)
Control Of The Diversion Of Controlled Pharmaceuticals
Report Number I-2002-010
September 2002
| MEMORANDUM FOR | ASA HUTCHINSON
ADMINISTRATOR DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION |
| FROM: | GLENN A. FINE
INSPECTOR GENERAL |
| SUBJECT: | Review of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Investigations of the Diversion of Controlled Pharmaceuticals, Report Number I-2002-010 |
Attached is the final report covering our review of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) efforts to investigate cases of controlled pharmaceutical diversion. We found that the DEA has dedicated only 10 percent of its field investigator positions to diversion investigations. We also found that the DEA has failed to provide sufficient DEA special agents to assist diversion investigators in conducting investigations of controlled pharmaceutical diversion. This situation has had a negative impact on the quality and timeliness of diversion investigation cases. In addition, we found that the DEA provides minimal intelligence support to its diversion investigators, instead of focusing its intelligence efforts on developing and analyzing intelligence information on illicit drug trafficking.
The report contains four recommendations to improve the DEA's ability to investigate the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals, including providing additional intelligence support to the Office of Diversion Control to enhance its ability to detect and investigate diversion cases.
We sent copies of the draft report to your office on August 26, 2002 with a request for comments. Your September 26, 2002 response addressed each of the report's four recommendations. We have included your response in the report as Appendix IV.
Our analysis of your response describes the additional information we need to close each of the recommendations and can be found in Appendix V. Please provide the additional information by January 17, 2003.
We look forward to working with you and assisting the DEA in resolving these issues. If you have any questions about this report, please feel free to contact me or Paul A. Price, Assistant Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections, on (202) 616-4620.
Attachment
| cc: | Marjorie Snider Liaison Drug Enforcement Administration Vickie L. Sloan |