DEA

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced Wednesday it conducted a major crackdown on synthetic drugs that involved the arrest of at least 150 people in 29 states, and the seizure of more than $20 million in products and cash.

The Drug Enforcement Administration in Atlanta is encouraging the public to text or call them to report suspicious activity that may indicate prescription drug abuse, according to CNN.

Members of The La Crosse County Heroin Task Force in Wisconsin have run into roadblocks while developing a plan to dispose of prescription medicines in drop boxes, reports the Associated Press.

Prescription drug abuse continues to be the nation’s fastest growing drug problem, according to a new report by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Americans are abusing prescription drugs at a higher prevalence rate than any illicit drug except marijuana.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has made three synthetic drugs, known as NBOMe compounds, illegal for the next two years. The compounds, also known as “N-Bomb,” have been responsible for the deaths of at least 19 people in the United States in the past year.

Americans turned in 647,211 pounds, or 324 tons, of expired and unwanted medications for safe and proper disposal during the most recent National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on October 26. The event was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The next National Prescription Take-Back Day is Saturday, October 26 at more than 5,000 locations around the country. Your participation along with that of your friends, neighbors and community leaders will be critical, as it always is, to the success of this campaign that takes tons of drugs out of harm’s way and ensures their safe and secure disposal, says DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York is calling on the Drug Enforcement Administration to establish a buy-back program for unused prescription drugs.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said this week that a new cold medicine must be kept behind pharmacy counters because it can be used to make methamphetamine. The medicine, Zephrex-D, contains a new form of pseudoephedrine that the drug’s maker says is difficult to use to make meth.

Law enforcement officials working in a government counternarcotics program have access to a huge AT&T database containing records of decades of phone calls, according to The New York Times.

Law enforcement officials and prosecutors are finding it difficult to win convictions against makers of synthetic drugs, who are constantly changing the chemistry of the products to stay one step ahead of the law.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and authorities in three other countries announced the arrests of dozens of people on Wednesday involved in trafficking designer drugs such as bath salts and synthetic marijuana.

Walgreens on Tuesday agreed to pay $80 million in civil penalties, in order to resolve allegations by the Drug Enforcement Administration that the company violated federal rules regarding the distribution of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone.

Fifty percent more pills were collected during the latest National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, compared with the previous event in 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced.

Three federal government agencies are urging employees to dispose of unwanted or expired drugs, as part of National Prescription Drug “Take-Back” Day on Saturday.

FedEx and UPS say they are targets of a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into online pharmacy shipments, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Eight former heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration called on the federal government Tuesday to challenge laws in Colorado and Washington state that legalize the recreational use of marijuana, The Wall Street Journal reports. On the same day, a United Nations agency said the state laws violate international narcotics conventions.

A U.S. Appeals Court this week refused to overrule the Drug Enforcement Administration’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical uses, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A proposal by the Drug Enforcement Administration to more tightly control prescriptions of drugs containing hydrocodone is prompting debate among doctors, according to NPR.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has proposed new regulations to give the public more options for disposing of unwanted prescription drugs, such as painkillers and sedatives.

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced it is investigating three Walgreens pharmacies in Florida because of concerns over possible prescription drug diversion.

Officials in Colorado and Washington state are seeking guidance from the federal government in the wake of those states’ approval of recreational marijuana laws, The Washington Post reports.

An online petition demanding the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation test homes for methamphetamine residue before selling them has received more than 200,000 signatures. The petition was started by a family who purchased a home from the agency that turned out to be a former meth lab.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is focusing on drug distributors in an effort to fight prescription painkiller abuse, The New York Times reports. In the past, the agency has tried tactics including arresting doctors and closing pharmacies.

The marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access asked a federal appeals court this week to force the Drug Enforcement Administration to hold a hearing to consider research on the drug’s benefits. The group wants marijuana reclassified so it is no longer considered a dangerous drug with no medical value.