[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47466-47467]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-16628]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration


Rebecca L. Adams, N.P.; Decision and Order

    On March 10, 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration 
(hereinafter, DEA or Government) issued an Order to Show Cause 
(hereinafter, OSC) to Rebecca L. Adams, N.P. (hereinafter, Registrant). 
OSC, at 1 and 3. The OSC proposed the revocation of Registrant's 
Certificate of Registration

[[Page 47467]]

No. MA5778228 at the registered address of 1200 N. State St., Suite 
420, Jackson, Mississippi, 39202. Id. at 1. The OSC alleged that 
Registrant's registration should be revoked because Registrant is 
``without authority to handle controlled substances in the State of 
Mississippi, the state in which [she is] registered with DEA.'' Id. at 
2 (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 its Request for 
Final Agency Action (RFAA), submitted July 12, 2022.\1\
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    \1\ Based on the Declaration from a DEA Diversion Investigator 
that the Government submitted with its RFAA, the Agency finds that 
the Government's service of the OSC on Registrant was adequate. 
RFAA, Exhibit (hereinafter, RFAAX) B, at 2. Further, based on the 
Government's assertions in its RFAA, the Agency finds that more than 
thirty days have passed since Registrant was served with the OSC and 
Registrant has neither requested a hearing nor submitted a written 
statement or corrective action plan and therefore has waived any 
such rights. RFAA, at 2; see also 21 CFR 1301.43(d) and 21 U.S.C. 
824(c)(2)(C).
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Findings of Fact

    On April 15, 2021, the Mississippi Board of Nursing issued an Order 
revoking Registrant's license to practice medicine in Mississippi. 
RFAAX C (Final Order), at 3. According to Mississippi's online records, 
of which the Agency takes official notice, Registrant's license is 
still revoked. \2\ Mississippi Board of Nursing License Verification, 
https://gateway.licensure.msbn.ms.gov/verification/search.aspx (last 
visited date of signature of this Order). Accordingly, the Agency finds 
that Registrant is not currently licensed to engage in the practice of 
medicine in Mississippi, the state in which she 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, Registrant 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 (hereinafter, 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. See, e.g., James L. Hooper, 
M.D., 76 FR 71,371 (2011), pet. for rev. denied, 481 F. App'x 826 (4th 
Cir. 2012); Frederick Marsh Blanton, M.D., 43 FR 27,616, 27,617 (1978). 
\3\
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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 39,130, 39,131 (2006); 
Dominick A. Ricci, M.D., 58 FR 51,104, 51,105 (1993); Bobby Watts, 
M.D., 53 FR 11,919, 11,920 (1988); Frederick Marsh Blanton, 43 FR at 
27,617.
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    According to Mississippi statute, ``dispense'' means ``to deliver a 
controlled substance to an ultimate user or research subject by or 
pursuant to the lawful order of a practitioner, including the 
prescribing, administering, packaging, labeling or compounding 
necessary to prepare the substance for that delivery.'' Miss. Code Ann. 
Sec.  41-29-105(j) (2022). Further, a ``practitioner'' means a person 
``licensed, registered or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, 
conduct research with respect to or to administer a controlled 
substance in the course of professional practice or research in this 
state.'' Id. at Sec.  41-29-105(y)(i). Because Registrant is not 
currently licensed as a nurse practitioner, or otherwise licensed in 
Mississippi, she is not authorized to dispense controlled substances in 
Mississippi.
    Here, the undisputed evidence in the record is that Registrant 
currently lacks authority to practice medicine in Mississippi. As 
already discussed, a person must be a licensed practitioner to dispense 
a controlled substance in Mississippi. Thus, because Registrant lacks 
authority to practice medicine in Mississippi and, therefore, is not 
authorized to handle controlled substances in Mississippi, Registrant 
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. 
MA5778228 issued to Rebecca L. Adams, N.P. 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 applications of Rebecca L. Adams, N.P., to renew or 
modify this registration, as well as any other pending application of 
Rebecca L. Adams, N.P., for additional registration in Mississippi. 
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 
July 26, 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.

Heather Achbach,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Drug Enforcement Administration.
[FR Doc. 2022-16628 Filed 8-2-22; 8:45 am]
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