[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 178 (Thursday, September 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56708-56709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19989]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration


Reginald James Newsome, M.D.; Decision and Order

    On March 16, 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration 
(hereinafter, DEA or Government)

[[Page 56709]]

issued an Order to Show Cause (hereinafter, OSC) to Reginald James 
Newsome, M.D. (hereinafter, Registrant). OSC, at 1 and 4. The OSC 
proposed the revocation of Registrant's Certificate of Registration No. 
FN0738344 at the registered address of 8865 Davis Blvd., Suite 100A, 
Keller, Texas 76248. 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 Texas, the 
state in which [he 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 18, 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 2-3. 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 3; see also 21 CFR 1301.43(d) and 21 U.S.C. 
824(c)(2)(C).
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Findings of Fact

    On February 15, 2022, the Texas Medical Board issued an Order of 
Temporary Suspension suspending Registrant's license to practice 
medicine in Texas. RFAAX C (Temporary Suspension Order), at 6. 
According to Texas's online records, of which the Agency takes official 
notice, Registrant's Texas medical license is still suspended.\2\ Texas 
Medical Board Verification, https://profile.tmb.state.tx.us/Search.aspx?d2678354-aafa-4f28-a2a0-96b1f74b617a (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 
Texas, the state in which he 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 71371 (2011), pet. for rev. denied, 481 F. App'x 826 (4th 
Cir. 2012); Frederick Marsh Blanton, M.D., 43 FR 27616 27617 (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 
71371-72; 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 Texas statute, ``dispense'' means ``the delivery of a 
controlled substance in the course of professional practice or 
research, by a practitioner or person acting under the lawful order of 
a practitioner, to an ultimate user or research subject. The term 
includes the prescribing, administering, packaging, labeling or 
compounding necessary to prepare the substance for delivery.'' Tex. 
Health & Safety Code Sec.  481.002(12) (2022). Further, a 
``practitioner'' means a ``a physician, . . . licensed, registered, or 
otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, analyze, conduct research 
with respect to, or administer a controlled substance in the course of 
professional practice or research in this state.'' Id. at Sec.  
481.002(39)(A).
    Here, the undisputed evidence in the record is that Registrant 
currently lacks authority to practice medicine in Texas. A person must 
be a licensed practitioner to dispense a controlled substance in Texas. 
Thus, because Registrant lacks authority to practice medicine in Texas 
and, therefore, is not authorized to handle controlled substances in 
Texas, 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. 
FN0738344 issued to Reginald James Newsome, 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 applications of Reginald James Newsome, M.D., 
to renew or modify this registration, as well as any other pending 
application of Reginald James Newsome, M.D., for additional 
registration in Texas. This Order is effective October 17, 2022.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on 
September 8, 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. 2022-19989 Filed 9-14-22; 8:45 am]
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