[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17267-17268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05802]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration

[Docket No. 23-2]


Christina Collins, APRN; Decision and Order

    On September 28, 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA or 
Government) issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) to Christina Collins, 
APRN (Respondent). OSC, at 1, 3. The OSC proposed the denial of 
Respondent's renewal application \1\ because Respondent is ``without 
authority to handle controlled substances in the State of Tennessee, 
the state in which [she is] registered with DEA.'' Id. at 2 (citing 21 
U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).
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    \1\ Certificate of Registration No. MC1638696 at the registered 
address of 6523 Central Avenue Pike, Knoxville, Tennessee 37912. Id. 
at 1.
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    Respondent requested a hearing; \2\ thereafter the Government filed 
and the ALJ granted a Motion for Summary Disposition recommending the 
denial of Respondent's renewal application for her registration. RD, at 
7-8. Respondent did not file exceptions to the RD. Having reviewed the 
entire record, the Agency adopts and hereby incorporates by reference 
the entirety of the ALJ's rulings, findings of fact, conclusions of 
law, and recommended sanction and summarizes and expands upon portions 
thereof herein.
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    \2\ Respondent's Request for Hearing is dated October 31, 2022, 
see Administrative Law Judge Exhibit (ALJX) 4, at 1, but was deemed 
filed on November 1, 2022. Further, although Respondent's Request 
for Hearing was untimely, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) 
accepted the filing. Order Granting the Government's Motion for 
Summary Disposition, and Recommended Rulings, Findings of Fact, 
Conclusions of Law, and Decision of the Administrative Law Judge 
(Recommended Decision or RD), at 2-4.
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Findings of Fact

    On February 28, 2022, the Tennessee Board of Nursing issued a Final 
Order revoking Respondent's Tennessee license to practice as an 
Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN license). RD, at 6-7; 
Government's Submission of Evidence Regarding Proof of Service and 
Motion for Summary Disposition, Exhibit (GX) D, at 1, 11,

[[Page 17268]]

13.\3\ According to Tennessee's online records, of which the Agency 
takes official notice, Respondent's APRN license is revoked.\4\ 
Tennessee Department of Health License Verification, https://apps.health.tn.gov/Licensure/default.aspx (last visited date of 
signature of this Order). Accordingly, the Agency finds that Respondent 
is not licensed to practice as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse in 
Tennessee, the state in which she is registered with the DEA.
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    \3\ In that Order, the Board went on to state that, ``[s]hould 
Respondent be granted a new advance practice registered nurse 
certificate by this Board [in the future], Respondent's advance 
practice registered nurse certificate shall be restricted to 
prohibit Respondent from prescribing controlled substances.'' GX D, 
at 11.
    \4\ 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. 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).\5\
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    \5\ 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(g)(1) (this 
section, formerly section 823(f), was redesignated as part of the 
Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, Public Law 
117-215, 136 Stat. 2257 (2022)). 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 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 27617. 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 71371 (quoting Anne Lazar Thorn, 62 FR 12847, 12848 (1997)), 
the Agency has also long held that revocation is warranted even 
where a practitioner is still challenging the underlying action. 
Bourne Pharmacy, 72 FR 18273, 18274 (2007); Wingfield Drugs, 52 FR 
27070, 27071 (1987). Thus, it is of no consequence that Respondent 
is still challenging the underlying action here. See Respondent's 
Reply to the Government's Motion for Summary Disposition, at 4-8; 
RD, at 6-7. What is consequential is the Agency's finding that 
Respondent is not currently authorized to dispense controlled 
substances in Tennessee, the state in which she is registered with 
the DEA. Adley Dasilva, P.A., 87 FR 69341, 69341 n.2 (2022).
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    According to Tennessee 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.'' Tenn. Code Ann. 
section 39-17-402(7) (2022). Further, a ``practitioner'' means ``[a] 
physician . . . or other 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 section 39-17-402(23)(A). 
According to Tennessee nursing regulations, ``[c]ertification by the 
Tennessee Board of Nursing to prescribe and/or issue legend drugs . . . 
shall authorize a nurse practitioner \6\ to prescribe and/or issue such 
drugs. Any nurse who prescribes and/or issues drugs without proper 
certification by the Tennessee Board of Nursing shall be subject to 
disciplinary action by the Board of Nursing . . . .'' Tenn. Comp. R. & 
Regs. 1000-04-.04(1) (2022).
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    \6\ Prior to revocation, Respondent's APRN license designated 
Respondent as a ``Nurse Practitioner with Certificate of Fitness.''
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    Here, the evidence in the record is that Respondent lacks authority 
to practice as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse in Tennessee. RD, 
at 7. As discussed above, an individual must be a licensed practitioner 
to dispense a controlled substance in Tennessee. Thus, because 
Respondent lacks authority to practice as an Advanced Practice 
Registered Nurse in Tennessee and, therefore, is not authorized to 
handle controlled substances in Tennessee, Respondent is not eligible 
to maintain a DEA registration. RD, at 7-8. Accordingly, the Agency 
will order that Respondent's application for renewal of her 
registration be denied.

Order

    Pursuant to 28 CFR 0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21 
U.S.C. 823(g)(1), I hereby deny the pending application of Christina 
Collins, APRN, for renewal of her DEA Certificate of Registration No. 
MC1638696, as well as any other pending application of Christina 
Collins, APRN, for additional registration in Tennessee. This Order is 
effective April 21, 2023.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on 
March 15, 2023, 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. 2023-05802 Filed 3-21-23; 8:45 am]
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