[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 122 (Monday, June 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38183-38184]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13602]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration


Julie Halling, M.D.; Decision and Order

    On November 4, 2021, the Drug Enforcement Administration 
(hereinafter, DEA or Government), issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) 
to Julie Halling, M.D. (hereinafter, Registrant). OSC, at 1. The OSC 
proposed the revocation of Registrant's Certificate of Registration, 
No. BH6450174, at the registered address of 5102 Galley Road, Lot 304C, 
Colorado Springs, Colorado. The OSC alleged that Registrant's 
registration should be revoked because Registrant is without 
``authority to handle controlled substances in the state in which 
[Registrant is] registered with the DEA.'' Id. (citing 21 U.S.C. 
824(a)(3)).
    The Agency makes the following findings of fact based on the 
uncontroverted evidence submitted by the Government in a Request for 
Final Agency Action (RFAA) on May 16, 2022.\1\
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    \1\ Based on the affidavit of a DEA Diversion Investigator that 
the Government submitted with the RFAA, the Agency finds that the 
Government's attempts to serve Registrant with the OSC were 
adequate. RFAA Exhibit B. Further, based on the assertions of the 
Government, the Agency finds that more than thirty days have passed 
and Registrant has not requested a hearing, submitted a written 
statement or corrective action plan and therefore has waived any 
such rights. 21 CFR 1301.43(d) and 21 U.S.C. 824(c)(2)(C). RFAA, at 
2.
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Findings of Fact

    On February 29, 2021, the Colorado Medical Board issued a Final 
Board Order that revoked Registrant's license to practice medicine in 
the State of Colorado. RFAA Exhibit 2, App.1 (Final Board Order). 
According to Colorado's online records, of which the Agency takes 
official notice, Registrant's license is still revoked.\2\ Colorado 
Professional or Business License Lookup, https://apps.colorado.gov/dora/licensing/Lookup/LicenseLookup.aspx (last visited date of 
signature of this Order). Accordingly, the Agency finds that Registrant 
currently is not licensed to engage in the practice of medicine in 
Colorado, the state in which Registrant is registered with the DEA.
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    \2\ Under the Administrative Procedure Act, an agency ``may take 
official notice of facts at any stage in a proceeding--even in the 
final decision.'' United States Department of Justice, Attorney 
General's Manual on the Administrative Procedure Act 80 (1947) (Wm. 
W. Gaunt & Sons, Inc., Reprint 1979). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 556(e), 
``[w]hen an agency decision rests on official notice of a material 
fact not appearing in the evidence in the record, a party is 
entitled, on timely request, to an opportunity to show the 
contrary.'' Accordingly, Respondent may dispute the Agency's finding 
by filing a properly supported motion for reconsideration of 
findings of fact within fifteen calendar days of the date of this 
Order. Any such motion and response shall be filed and served by 
email to the other party and to Office of the Administrator, Drug 
Enforcement Administration at [email protected].
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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 the 
Controlled Substances Act (CSA) ``upon a finding that the registrant . 
. . has had his State license or registration 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, the DEA has also long 
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 practitioner's registration.\3\ See, e.g., James L. 
Hooper, M.D., 76 FR 71371 (2011), pet. for rev. denied, 481 F. App'x 
826 (4th Cir. 2012); Frederick Marsh Blanton, M.D., 43 FR 27616, 27617 
(1978).
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    \3\ 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 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 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 CSA, the 
DEA has held repeatedly that revocation of a practitioner's 
registration is the appropriate sanction whenever he is no longer 
authorized to dispense controlled substances under the laws of the 
state in which he practices. See, e.g., James L. Hooper, 76 FR at 
71, 371-72; Sheran Arden Yeates, M.D., 71 FR 39130, 39131 (2006); 
Dominick A. Ricci, M.D., 58 FR 51104, 51105 (1993); Bobby Watts, 
M.D., 53 FR 11919, 11920 (1988); Frederick Marsh Blanton, 43 FR at 
27617.
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    According to Colorado statute, ``[e]very person who manufactures, 
distributes, or dispenses any controlled substance within this state . 
. . shall obtain . . . a registration, issued by the respective 
licensing board . . . . For purposes of this section and this article [ 
], `registration' or `registered' means . . . the licensing of 
physicians by the Colorado medical board . . . .'' Colo. Rev. Stat. 
Ann. Sec.  18-18-302(1) (West 2019). Here, the undisputed evidence in 
the record is that Registrant's Colorado medical license was revoked by 
the Colorado Medical Board. Registrant, therefore, is not authorized to 
dispense

[[Page 38184]]

controlled substances in Colorado and is not eligible to maintain a DEA 
registration. Accordingly, the Agency will order that Registrant's DEA 
registration be revoked.

Order

    Pursuant to 28 CFR 0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21 
U.S.C. 824(a), I hereby revoke DEA Certificate of Registration No. 
BH6450174 issued to Julie Halling, M.D. Further, pursuant to 28 CFR 
0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 823(f), I hereby 
deny any pending application of Julie Halling, M.D. to renew or modify 
this registration, as well as any other pending application of Julie 
Halling, M.D. for additional registration in Colorado. This Order is 
effective [insert Date Thirty Days From the Date of Publication in the 
Federal Register].

Signing Authority

    This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on 
June 16, 2022, by Administrator Anne Milgram. That document with the 
original signature and date is maintained by DEA. For administrative 
purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the 
Federal Register, the undersigned DEA Federal Register Liaison Officer 
has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic 
format for publication, as an official document of DEA. This 
administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this 
document upon publication in the Federal Register.

Scott Brinks,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Drug Enforcement Administration.
[FR Doc. 2022-13602 Filed 6-24-22; 8:45 am]
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