[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 29 (Thursday, February 12, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7014-7015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-3128]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration


Ernesto A. Cantu, M.D., Revocation of Registration

    On January 9, 2003, the Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of 
Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), issued an 
Order to Show Cause to Ernesto A. Cantu, M.D. (Dr. Cantu). Dr. Cantu 
was notified of an opportunity to show cause as to why DEA should not 
revoke his DEA Certificate of Registration, AC9115660, under 21 U.S.C. 
824(a)(3), (a)(4), and 823(f), for reason that his continued 
registration would be inconsistent with the public interest. The order 
also notified Dr. Cantu that should no request for a hearing be filed 
within 30 days, his hearing right would be deemed waived.
    The Order to Show Cause was sent by certified mail to Dr. Cantu at 
his registered location in San Antonio, Texas, but was subsequently 
returned to DEA with a post office notation ``Returned to Sender--
Unclaimed'' stamped to the mailing envelope. According to the 
investigative file, a second copy of the Order to Show Cause was sent 
by facsimile machine on February 11, 2003, to Dr. Cantu's attorney who 
accepted service on behalf of his client. Nevertheless, DEA has not 
received a request for hearing or any other reply from Dr. Cantu or 
anyone purporting to represent him in this matter.
    Therefore, the Acting Deputy Administrator of DEA, finding that (1) 
thirty days having passed since the attempted delivery of the Order to 
Show Cause at Dr. Cantu's registered address, (2) the Order to Show 
Cause having been returned and DEA's unsuccessful attempts at 
redelivery of the same, and (3) no request for hearing having been 
received, concludes that Dr. Cantu is deemed to have waived his hearing 
right. See David W. Linder, 67 FR 12579 (2002). After considering 
material from the investigative file in this matter, the Acting Deputy 
Administrator now enters her final order without a hearing pursuant to 
21 CFR 1301.43(d) and (e) and 1301.46.
    The Deputy Administrator finds that on December 7, 2001, Dr. Cantu 
entered into an Agreed Order with the Texas State Board of Medical 
Examiners (Board). One finding of the Agreed Order was that Dr. Cantu 
entered into a financial relationship with Pill Box Pharmacy (Pill 
Box), a drug store-pharmacy concern located in San Antonio, Texas, to 
provide controlled substances to individuals over the internet. The 
Agreed Order recounted that Pill Box ran an internet site which 
provided controlled substances and dangerous drugs to individuals in 
Texas and throughout the United States. The Agreed Order also found 
that Dr. Cantu agreed to provide consultations on behalf of the 
pharmacy in exchange for financial compensation.
    The Board's Agreed Order also found that between January 1, 2000 
and July 2001, Dr. Cantu issued ``well over 10,000 prescriptions'' for 
controlled substances and dangerous drugs through Pill Box, without 
establishing a proper physician-patient relationship or performing a 
mental or physical exam. The Agreed Order further recounted instances 
where Dr. Cantu permitted his girl friend to represent herself as a 
doctor and provide telephone consultations with patients in connection 
with the internet prescribing of controlled substances. The Agreed 
Order further found that Dr. Cantu issued numerous prescriptions for 
controlled substances to individuals he had never met or examined, and 
in some instances, Dr. Cantu's prescribing to these customers furthered 
their addictions to drugs. Dr. Cantu was also found to have issued a 
fictitious prescription for injectable Demerol, a Schedule II 
controlled substance, in the name of a patient that never received the 
prescription or the drug, and the Board also found probable cause to 
believe that Dr. Cantu and his girlfriend were abusing Demerol.
    As part of the Agreed Order, the Board ordered the suspension of 
Dr. Cantu's medical license for no less than one year until such time 
as Dr. Cantu requests in writing to have the suspension stayed or 
lifted and personally appears before the Board to demonstrate his 
fitness to practice medicine. There is no evidence before the Acting 
Deputy Administrator however, that Dr. Cantu's license to practice 
medicine in the State of Texas has been reinstated.
    Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 824(a), the Acting Deputy Administrator may

[[Page 7015]]

revoke a DEA Certificate of Registration if she finds that the 
registrant has had his state license revoked and is no longer 
authorized to dispense controlled substances or has committed such acts 
as would render his registration contrary to the public interest as 
determined by factors listed in 21 U.S.C. 823(f). Thomas B. Pelkowski, 
D.D.S., 57 FR 28538 (1992). Despite the Board's findings regarding Dr. 
Cantu's inappropriate handling of controlled substances, and 
notwithstanding the other public interest factors for the revocation of 
his DEA registration asserted herein, the more relevant consideration 
here is the present status of Dr. Cantu's state authorization to handle 
controlled substances.
    DEA does not have statutory authority under the Controlled 
Substances Act to issue or maintain a registration if the applicant or 
registrant is without state authority to handle controlled substances 
in the state in which he conducts business. See 21 U.S.C. 802(21), 
823(f) and 824(a)(3). This prerequisite has been consistently upheld. 
See Joseph Thomas Allevi, M.D., 67 FR 35581 (2002); Dominick A. Ricci, 
M.D., 58 FR 51104 (1993); Bobby Watts, M.D., 53 FR 11919 (1988).
    Here, it is clear that Dr. Cantu's medical license has been 
suspended, and as a result, he is not licensed to handle controlled 
substances in Texas where he is registered with DEA. Therefore, he is 
not entitled to a DEA registration in that state. Because Dr. Cantu 
lacks state authorization to handle controlled substances, the Acting 
Deputy Administrator concludes that it is unnecessary to address 
further whether his DEA registration should be revoked based upon the 
public interest grounds asserted in the Order to Show Cause. See Samuel 
Silas Jackson, D.D.S., 67 FR 65145 (2002); Nathaniel-Aikens-Afful, 
M.D., 62 FR 16871 (1997); Sam F. Moore. D.V.M., 58 FR 14428 (1993).
    Accordingly, the Acting Deputy Administrator of the Drug 
Enforcement Administration, pursuant to the authority vested in her by 
21 U.S.C. 823 and 824 and 28 CFR 0.100(b) and 0.104, hereby orders that 
DEA Certificate of Registration, AC9115660, issued to Ernesto A. Cantu, 
M.D., be, and it hereby is, revoked. The Acting Deputy Administrator 
further orders that any pending applications for renewal or 
modification of such registration be, and they hereby are, denied. This 
order is effective March 15, 2004.

    Dated: January 20, 2004.
Michele M. Leonhart,
Acting Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 04-3128 Filed 2-11-04; 8:45 am]
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