Ensuring Compliance Against Drug Diversion Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRIFFITH. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1899, the Ensuring Compliance Against Drug Diversion Act. This is a small but very important step that could play a key role in helping contain the opioid epidemic.

License to distribute opioids is not a commodity to be freely bought and sold. We must ensure that those who wish to engage in opioid distribution earn the ability to do so.

An investigation, as the Speaker has heard, published by the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee in 2018 found that the current procedures for transferring the licenses to distribute controlled substances lacked sufficient accountability.

In one instance, a distributor and its pharmacy customer did not go through the appropriate process of transferring registration to a new pharmacy owner, but the mistake wasn't caught until long, long afterward. As a result, there was a period of time during which the DEA was unaware that a particular pharmacy was distributing controlled substances.

Failing to properly verify whether a transfer has been approved creates a serious risk of drug diversion. This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit the transfer of any DEA registration without consent from the agency.

By requiring written approval from the DEA before the transfer of registration, we decrease the risk of controlled substances falling into the hands of those who have not been vetted by appropriate regulatory authorities.

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