Senator Markey Joins Legislation Repealing 2016 Law After Reports It Prevented Aggressive DEA Enforcement of Opioid Distributors

Source: Senator Edward J.Markey - (D - MA)

Washington, D.C. - October 24, 2017 - (The Ponder News) -- Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) announced his co-sponsorship of Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D-Mo.) legislation repealing the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016 after reports‎ from The Washington Post and 60 Minutes indicated that it had dramatically restricted the ability of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to crack down on opioid distributors suspected of wrongdoing.
 
“Wholesale opioid distributors have the capacity to put massive numbers of addictive painkillers in the hands of bad actors, and we need to make sure they are held to account,” said Senator Markey. “We need the DEA to have the tools and authority it needs to fully investigate violations and disrupt the flow of illicit opioid pharmaceuticals into our communities.”
 
The 2016 bill purported to “improve enforcement efforts related to prescription drug diversion and abuse” by altering DEA procedures for revoking or suspending registrations for opioid distributors under the Controlled Substances Act. However, the effect of these changes‎, according to media reports, has been to significantly curtail the ability of DEA to bring enforcement actions against drug distributors.
 
Additionally, ‎Senator Markey joined Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in leading a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the DEA requesting information on the impact of the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act. Current law requires the DEA Administrator to submit a report to Congress identifying any residual issues with diversion efforts, including information on whether coordination between the industry and law enforcement has helped with diversion. This report is past-due, and the Senators want HHS and the DEA to provide the information so they can determine the best action to take to ensure the DEA has the tools it needs to fight the opioid epidemic.
 
“In light of these reports and as Congress evaluates this law taking into account the nation’s addiction epidemic, it is critical that we have all the information necessary to ensure the federal government is doing everything it can to help support our states and local communities in our collective fight against this epidemic,” write the Senators in their letter. “We want to ensure the Drug Enforcement Administration and other related agencies have all of the tools necessary to fight this epidemic.”
 
A copy of the letter can be found HERE.
 
The letter is was also signed by Senators Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Bob Casey (D-Penn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn..), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) Chris A. Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Gary C. Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.).

Rep. Johnson Demands Accountability for Deadly U.S. Counter-narcotics Operations Abroad

Source: House Representative Henry C. (Hank) Johnson, Jr. (D-GA, 4th)



Washington, D.C. - September 5, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson demanding answers as to what steps the Department of Justice and the Department of State plan in response to the killing of innocent bystanders in US-backed counter-narcotics operations abroad.

The letter, led by Johnson and signed by the ranking members of the Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees and other colleagues, seeks answers regarding what steps are being taken to hold accountable officials found to be involved in “undermining Congressional oversight, undermining Chief of Mission Authority and obstructing an internal investigation.”

The letter focuses on pending questions and calls for accountability in the wake of a joint review from the Offices of the Inspectors General of Justice and State that presented shocking conclusions regarding the role of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in several lethal shooting incidents during counter-narcotics operations in Honduras under “Operation Anvil.”

The most notorious and deadly of these, and the focus of the letter, was a May 11, 2012, incident in Ahuas, Honduras, in which four local villagers were shot and killed and several others seriously wounded. The episode, as detailed in the OIG report, was a joint operation involving DEA agents and Honduran police.

The OIG review also revealed efforts by DEA and the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to cover up the agencies’ responsibility for the deadly operations. The letter notes that officials who reviewed the aftermath of the Ahuas operation with Congressional staff were not honest in doing so, telling staff “that there was reliable evidence showing that passengers on the water taxi were armed and opened fire on Honduran and DEA agents. They also insisted that U.S. agents on the mission were not responsible for the discharging of firearms. In fact, there was no credible evidence to support these assertions.”

“We waited five long years for this Inspector General Review and, though it confirms our worst fears regarding what really happened during the tragic Ahuas incident, it also leaves many questions unanswered,” said Rep. Johnson. “The biggest question of all is: what is our government doing to fix this and make sure that, going forward, any U.S. agent involved in the loss of innocent life abroad is held accountable?”

The letter also discusses the findings of a recent ProPublica investigation into a 2011 DEA-related massacre in Allende, Mexico, that indicate that some of the serious problems noted in the joint OIG review may be part of a broader pattern of deficiencies hampering US counter-narcotics operations abroad. In response, the letter presses the Attorney General and Secretary of State on whether they are carrying out a “thorough review” of the system of US-vetted foreign police units and of the DEA methods related to “Sources of Information.”