[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 22 (Friday, February 3, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9224-9226]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02321]


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 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration


Janet Carol Dean, M.D.; Decision and Order

    On September 22, 2016, the Assistant Administrator, Diversion 
Control Division, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), issued an 
Order to Show Cause to Janet Carol Dean, M.D. (Registrant), of Denver, 
Colorado. The Show Cause Order proposed the revocation of Registrant's 
DEA Certificate of Registration No. BD2298621, the denial of any 
applications to renew or modify her registration, and the denial of any 
applications for any other DEA registration, on the ground that she 
does not have authority to handle controlled

[[Page 9225]]

substances in Colorado, the State in which she is registered with the 
DEA. Order to Show Cause, at 1 (citing 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).
    With respect to the Agency's jurisdiction, the Show Cause Order 
alleged that Registrant is the holder of Certificate of Registration 
No. BD2298621, pursuant to which she is authorized to dispense 
controlled substances in schedules II through V as a practitioner, at 
the registered address of 710 E. Speer Blvd., Denver, Colorado. Id. The 
Order also alleged that this registration does not expire until June 
30, 2017. Id.
    As ground for the proceeding, the Show Cause Order alleged that on 
August 22, 2016, the Colorado Medical Board issued an order ``which 
suspended [her] medical license'' and that she is ``currently without 
authority to practice medicine or handle controlled substances in the 
State of Colorado, the [S]tate in which [she is] registered with the'' 
Agency. Id. at 2. Based on her ``lack of authority to [dispense] 
controlled substances in . . . Colorado,'' the Order asserted that 
``DEA must revoke'' her registration. Id. (citing 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).
    The Show Cause Order notified Registrant of her right to request a 
hearing on the allegations or to submit a written statement in lieu of 
a hearing, the procedure for electing either option, and the 
consequence for failing to elect either option. Id. (citing 21 CFR 
1301.43). The Show Cause Order also notified Registrant of her right to 
submit a corrective action plan. Id. at 2-3.
    On or about September 29, 2016, a Diversion Investigator from the 
Denver Field Division mailed the Order to Show Cause to Registrant by 
Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, addressed to her at the 
following addresses: (1) An address which, according to the Government 
was her registered address, but which is recorded on the Certified Mail 
Receipt as 710 E. Speed Blvd.; (2) her mailing address on file with the 
Agency; and (3) the address listed on her Colorado driver's license. 
Government Request for Final Agency Action (RFFA), at 1-2. According to 
both USPS tracking information and the signed return-receipt card, the 
mailing to Registrant's mailing address was signed for on October 6, 
2016.\1\ GX 3, at 2-3.
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    \1\ Because of the discrepancy between the addresses listed in 
the registration history (710 E. Speer Blvd., Denver, CO) and the 
address as written on the Certified Mail receipt (710 E. Speed 
Blvd., Denver, CO), I cannot find that this attempt at service was 
effective. As for the mailing of the Show Cause Order to the address 
on her driver's license, it was returned unclaimed. Thus, I rely 
only on the mailing to the mailing address she provided to the 
Agency.
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    On December 7, 2016, the Government forwarded its Request for Final 
Agency Action and an evidentiary record to my Office. Therein, the 
Government represents that Registrant has neither requested a hearing 
nor ``otherwise corresponded or communicated with DEA regarding'' the 
Show Cause Order. RFFA, at 2.
    Based on the Government's representation and the record, I find 
that more than 30 days have passed since the Order to Show Cause was 
served on Registrant and she has neither requested a hearing nor 
submitted a written statement in lieu of a hearing. Id. at 2 (citing 21 
CFR 1301.43(d)). Accordingly, I find that Registrant has waived her 
right to a hearing or to submit a written statement and issue this 
Decision and Order based on relevant evidence submitted by the 
Government. I make the following findings.

Findings

    Registrant is the holder of DEA Certificate of Registration 
BD2298621, pursuant to which she is authorized to dispense controlled 
substances in schedules II through V as a practitioner, at the 
registered address of 710 E. Speer Blvd., Denver, Colorado. GX 1, at 1 
(Certification of Registration History). Her registration does not 
expire until June 30, 2017. Id.
    On August 22, 2016, the Colorado Medical Board (the Board) issued 
an Order of Suspension to Registrant, which was effective the same day. 
GX 4, at 2 (Order of Suspension). According to the Board's Order, an 
Inquiry Panel reviewed information that ``during the period of January 
1, 2016 to May 27, 2016, [Registrant] signed in excess of 450 
certifications recommending the medical use of marijuana which 
authorized the individual to possess more marijuana plants than were 
medically necessary to treat the patients' conditions.'' Id. at 1. The 
Inquiry Panel also found that the ``certifications f[ell] below 
generally accepted standards of medical practice and lack[ed] medical 
necessity,'' in violation of Colorado law. Id. (citing, inter alia, 
Col. Rev. Statutes Sec. Sec.  12-36-117(l)(p) and (mm)).
    The Panel further found that the ``significant number of standard 
of care deviations, within a six-month period, raise[d] significant 
concerns regarding Respondent's medical judgment and decision-making.'' 
Id. at 2. And based on its conclusion that there were ``objective and 
reasonable grounds to believe . . . that [Registrant] deliberately and 
willfully violated the Medical Practice Act and/or that the public 
health, safety or welfare imperatively requires emergency action,'' the 
Panel ordered the suspension of her medical license which ``shall 
remain in effect until resolution'' of the Board's matter. Id.

Discussion

    Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3), the Attorney General is authorized 
to suspend or revoke a registration issued under section 823 of Title 
21, ``upon a finding that the registrant . . . has had [her] State 
license . . . suspended [or] revoked . . . by competent State authority 
and is no longer authorized by State law to engage in the . . . 
dispensing of controlled substances.'' With respect to a practitioner, 
DEA has repeatedly held that the possession of authority to dispense 
controlled substances under the laws of the State in which a 
practitioner engages in professional practice is a fundamental 
condition for obtaining and maintaining a registration. See, e.g., 
James L. Hooper, 76 FR 71371 (2011), pet. for rev. denied, 481 Fed. 
Appx. 826 (4th Cir. 2012); see also Frederick Marsh Blanton, 43 FR 
27616 (1978) (``State authorization to dispense or otherwise handle 
controlled substances is a prerequisite to the issuance and maintenance 
of a Federal controlled substances registration.'').
    This rule derives from the text of two provisions of the CSA. 
First, Congress defined ``the term `practitioner' [to] mean[ ] a . . . 
physician . . . or other person licensed, registered or otherwise 
permitted, by . . . the jurisdiction in which [s]he practices . . . to 
distribute, dispense, [or] administer . . . a controlled substance in 
the course of professional practice.'' 21 U.S.C. 802(21). Second, in 
setting the requirements for obtaining a practitioner's registration, 
Congress directed that ``[t]he Attorney General shall register 
practitioners . . . if the applicant is authorized to dispense . . . 
controlled substances under the laws of the State in which [s]he 
practices.'' 21 U.S.C. 823(f). Because Congress has clearly mandated 
that a practitioner possess state authority in order to be deemed a 
practitioner under the Act, DEA has held repeatedly that revocation of 
a practitioner's registration is the appropriate sanction whenever she 
is no longer authorized to dispense controlled substances under the 
laws of the State in which she engages in professional practice. See, 
e.g., Calvin Ramsey, 76 FR 20034, 20036 (2011); Sheran Arden Yeates, 
M.D., 71 FR 39130, 39131 (2006); Dominick A. Ricci, 58 FR 51104, 51105 
(1993); Bobby Watts, 53 FR

[[Page 9226]]

11919, 11920 (1988); Blanton, 43 FR 27616 (1978).
    Moreover, because ``the controlling question'' in a proceeding 
brought under 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3) is whether the holder of a 
practitioner's registration ``is currently authorized to handle 
controlled substances in the [S]tate,'' Hooper, 76 FR at 71371 (quoting 
Anne Lazar Thorn, 62 FR 12847, 12848 (1997)), the Agency has also long 
held that revocation is warranted even where a practitioner has lost 
his state authority by virtue of the State's use of summary process and 
the State has yet to provide a hearing to challenge the suspension. 
Bourne Pharmacy, 72 FR 18273, 18274 (2007); Wingfield Drugs, 52 FR 
27070, 27071 (1987). Thus, it is of no consequence that the Colorado 
Medical Board has employed summary process in suspending Registrant's 
state license. What is consequential is that Registrant is no longer 
currently authorized to dispense controlled substances in the State in 
which she is registered. I will therefore order that her registration 
be revoked.

Order

    Pursuant to the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 824(a), as well 
as 28 CFR 0.100(b), I order that DEA Certificate of Registration 
BD2298621, issued to Janet Carol Dean, M.D., be, and it hereby is, 
revoked. Pursuant to the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 823(f), I 
further order that any pending application of Janet Carol Dean, M.D., 
to renew or modify her registration, or for any registration in the 
State of Colorado, be, and it hereby is, denied. This Order is 
effective immediately.\2\
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    \2\ For the same reasons that led the Colorado Board to 
summarily suspend Registrant's medical license, I find that the 
public interest necessitates that this Order be effective 
immediately. 21 CFR 1316.67.

    Dated: January 27th, 2017.
Chuck Rosenberg,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2017-02321 Filed 2-2-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-09-P