The Drug Enforcement Administration is wrapping up a multistate crackdown on prescription drug abuse with raids at pain clinics, pharmacies and other locations in the South, The Associated Press has learned.
The early-morning raids in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are the final stage of an operation launched last summer by the DEA’s drug diversion unit, a senior DEA official tells The AP, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe details of the ongoing investigation in advance of a public announcement.
Before this morning’s raids, 140 people had already been arrested and agents expected to make another 170 arrests, the official says. Suspects in the DEA’s “Operation Pillution” include doctors and pharmacists, the official adds. The crackdown is focused on the illegal sale of painkillers, including the powerful opioids oxycodone and hydrocodone.
Among the facilities targeted today is a Little Rock pain clinic not far from the DEA’s local field office. The official says investigators found that the clinic is protected by a security guard and another employee is often stationed outside to direct traffic when patients start showing up around 6:45 each morning.
Meanwhile, over In Mobile, agents are targeting two doctors accused of running multiple pain clinics, the official says.
A total of 24 doctors, pharmacies and others have surrendered their DEA registration numbers as part of the ongoing crackdown, the official says. A registration number is required to prescribe certain medications. The agency is moving to revoke prescribing permission in at least 24 other cases.
People arrested in the ongoing crackdown face a variety of state and federal criminal charges, including distribution of a controlled substance and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. DEA prescription data show that Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana were among the top 11 states for prescribing hydrocodone in 2014.
