[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 209 (Friday, October 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66995-66996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-28010]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration


David T. Koon, M.D.; Revocation of Registration

    On July 24, 2009, the Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of 
Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, issued an Order to 
Show Cause to David T. Koon (hereinafter, Registrant), of Summerton, 
South Carolina. The Show Cause Order proposed the revocation of 
Respondent's DEA Certificate of Registration, BK4092350, as a 
practitioner, and the denial of any applications to renew or modify the 
registration, on the ground that he does not ``have authority to 
practice medicine or handle controlled substance in the [S]tate of 
South Carolina, the [S]tate in which [he is] registered with DEA'' 
because ``of actions by the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners 
and the South Carolina Bureau of Drug Control.'' Id. at 1 (citing 21 
U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).
    On August 1, 2009, the Show Cause Order, which also advised 
Registrant of his right to request a hearing on the allegations or to 
file a written statement in lieu of a hearing, the procedures for doing 
either, and the consequence for failing to do so, was served by 
certified mail sent to him at his home address as established by the 
signed return-receipt card. Id. at 2. Since that time, neither 
Respondent, nor anyone purporting to represent him, has requested a 
hearing or submitted a statement. Because more than thirty days have 
passed since service of the Show Cause Order, I conclude that 
Respondent has waived his right to either request a hearing or to 
submit a written statement. 21 CFR 1301.43. I therefore issue this 
Decision and Final Order without a hearing based on relevant material 
contained in the record submitted by the Government and make the 
following findings.

Findings

    Respondent is the holder of DEA Certificate of Registration, 
BK4092350. Respondent's registration was last renewed on January 2, 
2009, and does not expire until December 31, 2011.
    On March 31, 2009, the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners 
ordered that Respondent's medical license be ``temporarily suspended, 
effective immediately, until further Order of the Board.'' Order of 
Temporary Suspension, In re David Thomas Koon, OIE 2009-46, 
2008-217 (S.C. Bd. Med. Exam'rs, Mar. 31, 2009). Moreover, according to 
the Board's Web site, Registrant's medical license expired on September 
30, 2009; the Web site also indicates Registrant's ``Credential 
Status'' as ``Suspended.'' In addition, according to the South Carolina 
Department of Health and Environmental Control, Bureau of Drug Control, 
Registrant's South Carolina Controlled Substances Registration expired 
on May 12, 2009.

Discussion

    DEA does not have statutory authority to grant or maintain a DEA 
registration if the applicant or registrant lacks authority to handle 
controlled substances under the laws of the State in which he is 
engaged in professional practice. See 21 U.S.C. 802(21) (defining the 
term ``practitioner'' as a person ``licensed, registered, or otherwise 
permitted, by the United States or the jurisdiction in which he 
practices * * * to distribute, dispense * * * [or] administer * * * a 
controlled substance''); id. Sec.   823(f) (``The Attorney General 
shall register practitioners * * * to dispense * * * controlled 
substances * * * if the applicant is authorized to dispense * * * 
controlled substances under the laws of the State in which he 
practices.''). As these provisions make plain, possessing authority 
under state law to handle controlled substances is an essential 
condition for holding a DEA registration.
    Accordingly, DEA has held repeatedly that the CSA requires the 
revocation of a registration issued to a practitioner whose state 
license has been suspended or revoked. David W. Wang, 72 FR 54297, 
54298 (2007); Sheran Arden Yeates, 71 FR 39130, 39131 (2006); Dominick 
A. Ricci, 58 FR 51104, 51105 (1993); Bobby Watts, 53 FR 11919, 11920 
(1988). See also 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3) (authorizing the revocation of a 
registration ``upon a finding that the registrant * * * has had his 
State license or registration suspended [or] revoked * * * and is no 
longer authorized by State law to engage in the * * * distribution [or] 
dispensing of controlled substances'').
    Moreover, the Agency has interpreted the CSA to require the 
revocation of a registration upon a practitioner's loss of state 
authority ``not only where a registrant's authority has been suspended 
or revoked, but also where a practitioner * * * has lost his state 
authority for reasons other than through formal disciplinary action of 
a State board.'' John B. Freitas, 74 FR 17524, 17525 (2009). Thus, even 
when a registrant ceases to possess authority to handle controlled 
substance in the State in which he practices through the expiration of 
a medical license or separate state controlled substances registration 
(when required), the Agency has revoked the practitioner's 
registration. James Stephen Ferguson, 75 FR 49994, 49995 (2010); Mark 
L. Beck, 64 FR 40899, 40900 (1999); Charles H. Ryan, 58 FR 14430 
(1993).
    Because Registrant is no longer licensed to practice medicine and 
to dispense controlled substances in South Carolina, the State in which 
he is registered with DEA, under the CSA, he is no longer entitled to 
hold his registration. Accordingly, his registration will be revoked 
and any pending applications will be denied.

Order

    Pursuant to the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 823(f) & 
824(a), as well as 28 CFR 0.100(b), I order that DEA Certificate of 
Registration, BK4092350, issued to David T. Koon, M.D., be, and it 
hereby is, revoked. I further order that any pending application of 
David T. Koon, M.D., to renew or modify his registration, be, and it 
hereby is, denied.

[[Page 66996]]

This Order is effective November 28, 2011.

    Dated: October 17, 2011.
Michele M. Leonhart,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2011-28010 Filed 10-27-11; 8:45 am]
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