Editing Drug Enforcement Administration (section)

==Impact on the drug trade==
{{See also|Illegal drug trade}}
{{Update section|date=March 2020}}
In 2005, the DEA seized a reported $1.4 billion in drug trade related assets and $477 million worth of drugs.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr122805.html
 |work         = dea.gov
 |title        = Drug Enforcement Administration Highlights Year's Accomplishments
 |date         = December 28, 2005
 |access-date   = 2007-04-28
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060627001334/http://www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr122805.html
 |archive-date = June 27, 2006
 |url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref> According to the White House's [[Office of Drug Control Policy]], the total value of all of the drugs sold in the U.S. is as much as $64 billion a year,<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/drugfact/american_users_spend/index.html
| work=Office of National Drug Control Policy
| title=What America's Users Spend on Illegal Drugs 1988–1998
|date=December 2000
| access-date=2007-04-28
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070312034207/http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/drugfact/american_users_spend/index.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-03-12}}</ref> giving the DEA an efficiency rate of less than 1% at intercepting the flow of drugs into and within the United States. Critics of the DEA (including recipient of the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]], [[Milton Friedman]], prior to his death a member of [[Law Enforcement Against Prohibition]]) point out that demand for illegal drugs is [[inelastic]]; the people who are buying drugs will continue to buy them with little regard to price, often turning to crime to support expensive drug habits when the drug prices rise. One recent study by the DEA showed that the price of [[cocaine]] and [[methamphetamine]] is the highest it has ever been while the quality of both is at its lowest point ever.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr121108.html |title=News from DEA, News Releases, 12/11/08 |publisher=Usdoj.gov |access-date=2011-08-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821225700/http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr121108.html |archive-date=August 21, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> This is contrary to a collection of data done by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which states that purity of street drugs has increased, while price has decreased.<ref>Figure 4 Source: ONDCP. 1998 National Drug Control Strategy. Table 20.</ref><ref>Figure 5 Source: ONDCP. 1998 National Drug Control Strategy. Table 20.</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwGpsNjv_1kC&q=ONDCP+national+drug+control+strategy+1998+heroin+purity+increase&pg=PA106 |title=''Lies, Damn Lies and Drug War Statistics'' |access-date=2011-08-31 |isbn=9780791480670 |date=2010-03-10 |last1=Robinson |first1=Matthew B. |last2=Scherlen |first2=Renee G. |publisher=State University of New York Press |archive-date=April 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416113125/https://books.google.com/books?id=dwGpsNjv_1kC&q=ONDCP+national+drug+control+strategy+1998+heroin+purity+increase&pg=PA106 |url-status=live }}</ref> In contrast to the statistics presented by the DEA, the United States Department of Justice released data in 2003 showing that purity of methamphetamine was on the rise.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/ndic-moved.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831091547/http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs11/13853/avail.htm|url-status=dead|title=U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC)|archive-date=August 31, 2009|website=www.justice.gov}}</ref>

=== Registration and licensing ===
[[File:Deakhat.jpg|thumb|"Operation Somalia Express" was an 18-month investigation that included the coordinated takedown of a 44-member international narcotics-trafficking organization responsible for smuggling more than 25 tons of [[khat]] from the [[Horn of Africa]] to the United States.]]

The DEA has a registration system in place which authorizes anyone to manufacture, import, export, and distribute by filing [http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugreg/reg_apps/225/225_instruct.htm DEA form 225] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151108082007/http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugreg/reg_apps/225/225_instruct.htm |date=November 8, 2015 }} along with medical professionals, researchers and manufacturers access to "[[Controlled Substances Act|Schedule I]]" drugs, as well as Schedules 2, 3, 4 and 5. Authorized registrants apply for and, if granted, receive a "[[DEA number]]". An entity that has been issued a DEA number is authorized to manufacture (drug companies), distribute research, prescribe (doctors, [[pharmacist]]s, [[nurse practitioners]] and physician assistants, etc.), or dispense (pharmacy) a controlled substance.

=== Diversion control system ===
Many problems associated with [[substance use disorder]]s are the result of legitimately manufactured controlled substances being diverted from their lawful purpose into the illicit drug traffic. Many of the analgesics, depressants and stimulants manufactured for legitimate medical use can often carry the potential for addiction. Therefore, those scheduled substances have been brought under legal control for prevention and population safety. The goal of controls is to ensure that these "controlled substances" are readily available for medical use while preventing their distribution for illicit distribution and non-medical use. This can be a difficult task, sometimes providing difficulty for legitimate patients and healthcare providers while circumventing illegal trade and consumption of scheduled drugs.

Under federal law, all businesses which manufacture or distribute controlled drugs, all health professionals entitled to dispense, administer or prescribe them, and all [[Pharmacy|pharmacies]] entitled to fill prescriptions must register with the DEA. Registrants must comply with a series of regulatory requirements relating to drug security, records accountability, and adherence to standards.

All of these investigations are conducted by [[Diversion Investigator]]s (DIs). DIs conduct investigations to uncover and investigate suspected sources of diversion and take appropriate civil and administrative actions. Prescription Database Management Programs (PDMP) aid and facilitate investigation and surveillance.

{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}

===Fentanyl overdose crisis===
In 2019 and 2020, record overdoses from illicit [[fentanyl]] tablets or as a deadly [[adulterant]] in [[heroin]] have ravaged North America. An estimated 19,416 individuals died of a drug overdose in the United States in the first 3 months of 2020 compared with 16,682 in the same 3-month period in 2019; this trend was fueled by synthetic opioids (especially illicitly manufactured fentanyl and analogs). Furthermore, between May 2020 and April 2021, the estimated number of drug overdose deaths in the United States exceeded 100,000 over this time period, with 64.0% of deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (the same illicitly manufactured fentanyls and analogs).<ref name=jo>{{Cite journal |last1=O’Donnell |first1=Julie |last2=Tanz |first2=Lauren J. |last3=Gladden |first3=R. Matt |last4=Davis |first4=Nicole L. |last5=Bitting |first5=Jessica |date=2021-12-17 |title=Trends in and Characteristics of Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyls — United States, 2019–2020 |url=http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7050e3.htm?s_cid=mm7050e3_w |journal=MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report |volume=70 |issue=50 |pages=1740–1746 |doi=10.15585/mmwr.mm7050e3 |issn=0149-2195 |pmc=8675656 |pmid=34914673}}</ref>  In contrast, Europe has seen a decrease from heroin overdoses, and a practical absence of illicit, synthetic opioids.

Fentanyl, originally developed in the 1970s by [[Janssen Pharmaceutica]], is a potent anesthetic primarily used in hospital or hospice settings. In Europe, heroin is mainly supplied from [[Western Asia]] (from [[Afghanistan]] and neighboring countries), and less likely to be contaminated with fentanyl. In North America, there are now fewer deaths involving heroin than either meth or cocaine, a striking change that has taken place over the last two years as heroin has all but disappeared from some regions. Due to the absence of heroin from Asian sources, fentanyl-laced heroin powder or tablets have filled that void.<ref>Leana S Wen, Nakisa B Sadeghi (October 06, 2020). [https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32113-9/fulltext The opioid crisis and the 2020 US election: crossroads for a national epidemic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216185314/https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32113-9/fulltext |date=December 16, 2020 }} ''The Lancet''. VOLUME 396, ISSUE 10259, P1316-1318. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32113-9 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713040735/https://www.thelancet.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673620321139 |date=July 13, 2022 }}. Retrieved 18 December 2020.</ref>

In October 2021, the US reported another record in fentanyl deaths, as federal agencies were unable to stem the tide of illicit, synthetic drugs entering the US. Originally, introduced to replace much of the white powder heroin in the Eastern United States, the drug continues to move further west. Between July 2019–December 2020, illicitly manufactured fentanyl involved deaths increased sharply in midwestern (33.1%), southern (64.7%), and western (93.9%) jurisdictions.

=== MDMA DEA scheduling overturn ===
In 1985 [[MDMA]] and its analogues were under review by the American government as a drug with a potential for addiction. During this time, several public hearings on the new drug were held by the DEA. Based on all of the evidence and facts presented at the time, the DEA's administrative law judge did not see MDMA and its analogues as being of large concern and recommended that they be placed in Schedule III. The DEA administrator, expressing concern for addictive potential, overruled the recommendation and ruled that MDMA be put in Schedule I, the [[Controlled Substances Act]]'s most restrictive category.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.drugtext.org/library/research/mdma/archive/15/default.htm |title=24 MDMA, Chorles S. Grob and Russell E Polond |publisher=Drugtext.org |access-date=August 31, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911203541/http://www.drugtext.org/library/research/mdma/archive/15/default.htm |archive-date=September 11, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>Video Documentary: "Hooked – Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way: LSD, Ecstasy and Raves", The History Channel</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maps.org/dea-mdma/|work=MAPS|url-status=dead|title=Documents from the DEA Scheduling Hearing of MDMA, 1984-1988|access-date=September 9, 2008|archive-date=May 23, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523212117/http://www.maps.org/dea-mdma/}}</ref>