Enforcement

ENFORCEMENT

This page is to inform readers about the war on drugs. The war on drugs does work, despite what the naysayers continually say. Below is all about the war on illegal drugs and the great job the DEA does each and every single day, 365 days a year. It is a daunting and dangerous job for the men and women who work for the DEA. I am a big supporter of the DEA. I have no ties whether by family or friends to the DEA. I simply believe in what they are doing and would never consider the legalization of drugs for any reason.

My opinions throughout the rest of my web site don't reflect those of the DEA!!! Their web site (http://www.dea.gov/) will explain what they are charged with by our government. Please go to their web site for a better understanding of what the DEA does for our country. Be informed by being educated!

Enrique S. Camarena Award Criteria

Elks Drug Awareness Program

Enrique S. “Kiki” Camarena was an 11 year veteran agent of the DEA, who was kidnapped, brutally tortured and then murdered in Mexico in 1985. Prior to serving with the DEA, Agent Camarena was a firefighter, a criminal investigator and a narcotics officer. He was a loving husband and a father of three children. His death has inspired millions of Americans to lead a drug-free life and the Elks celebrate his commitment to this effort with an annual award.

October is traditionally Red Ribbon month, a time when people wear red ribbons to commemorate Agent Camarena’s ultimate sacrifice. The millions of Americans who wear these ribbons visibly take a stand that they are opposed to illicit drug use and commemorate all of those who have been tragically affected by the results of use and abuse.

Each year, the BPOE "Elks" present the Enrique S. Camarena Award to a member of law enforcement who best exemplifies the qualities and principals for which Agent Camarena gave his life. Nominees should be involved in their communities in efforts to make them drug-free. Nominees should have the support of their agency and respect of their community.

Nomination should be submitted to the local Elks Lodge by October 15, 2007. National selection will take place in December and the award will be presented in April 2008.

**** It you are a law enforcement officer working in Bartow County or the city of Cartersville and know of a fellow officer who would qualify for this award. You can reach me through the Cartersville Elks Lodge at 770-382-3557 or my cell phone at 678-232-8571. I will be glad to bring you an application or applications. This is a great way for the citizens of our county and city to be aware of the job you do for us. Most of the time all we here is the negative about law enforcement. This is a great way to show the positive work law enforcement does for its citizens. ****

I wanted to also add this tribute from the DEA web site. There are 75 brave men and women on the “Wall of Honor”. I have the movie called “Drug Wars” that tells the story of Special Agent Camerena's life as a DEA agent and his subsequent death. It is worth renting or buying. Its an eye opener to what agents of the DEA and their families risk and sacrifice in their day to day lives.

Enrique S. Camarena

July 26, 1947 to March 5, 1985

Special Agent Enrique S. Camarena, of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Guadalajara, Mexico, Resident Office, was kidnapped and tortured by Mexican drug traffickers on February 7, 1985. It is believed that Special Agent Camerena's death actually occurred on February 9. His body was discovered on March 5, 1985. He was 37 years of age at the time of his death.

Special Agent Camarena joined DEA in June 1974 as an Agent with the Calexico, California District Office. He was assigned to the Fresno District Office in September 1977, and transferred to the Guadalajara Resident Office in July 1981. During his 11 years with DEA, he received two Sustained Superior Performance Awards, a Special Achievement Award and, posthumously, the Administrator's Award of Honor, the highest award granted by DEA.

On the afternoon of his disappearance, Special Agent Camarena was en route to meet his wife for lunch. He was abducted by five assailants as he left the U.S. Consulate, one of whom identified himself as a Mexican law enforcement official. Special Agent Camarena was never seen alive again, and is believed to have been extensively tortured for two days before he died from a crushed skull. Major organized crime figures from Mexico, including Rafael Caro Quintero, Rueben Zuno Arce, Miguel Felix Gallardo, Humberto Alvarez Machain, Mario Verdugo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo were arrested for Enrique Camarena's torture and murder. This event had triggered Operation Leyenda, the largest homicide investigation that DEA had ever undertaken.

Prior to joining DEA, Special Agent Camarena served two years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He worked in Calexico as a fireman and then as a police investigator, and was a narcotics investigator for the Imperial County Sheriff Coroner. Special Agent Camarena was survived by his wife, Geneva and three children, Enrique, Daniel and Erik.

Special Agent Camarena's death inspired millions of people around the world to lead drug-free lives. Each October, thousands of schools, communities and state and local drug abuse prevention organizations distribute red ribbons to honor Special Agent Camarena's memory. The millions of Americans who wear these ribbons demonstrate visibly their commitment to this cause. DEA's Miami Division hosts a golf tournament each year in memory of Special Agent Camarena. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the DEA Survivors Benefit Fund.

Reasons to Create the DEA:

According to the final report from the Senate Committee on Government Operations issued on October 16, 1973, the benefits anticipated from the creation of the DEA included:

1. Putting an end to the interagency rivalries that have undermined federal drug law enforcement, especially the rivalry between the BNDD and the U.S. Customs Service;

2. Giving the FBI its first significant role in drug enforcement by requiring that the DEA draw on the FBI's expertise in combatting organized crime's role in the trafficking of illicit drugs;

3. Providing a focal point for coordinating federal drug enforcement efforts with those of state and local authorities, as well as with foreign police forces;

4. Placing a single Administrator in charge of federal drug law enforcement in order to make the new DEA more accountable than its component parts had ever been, thereby safeguarding against corruption and enforcement abuses;

5. Consolidating drug enforcement operations in the DEA and establishing the Narcotics Division in Justice to maximize coordination between federal investigation and prosecution efforts and eliminate rivalries within each sphere; and

6. Establishing the DEA as a super agency to provide the momentum needed to coordinate all federal efforts related to drug enforcement outside the Justice Department, especially the gathering of intelligence on international narcotics smuggling.

Cocaine confiscated and destroyed!!!!!

This is about one of the many drug seizures the DEA made this past year. I think this shows the DEA is winning the war on drugs. Just like the war on terror the drug war has been a long and dangerous war. Many DEA agents have died, but not in vain. (Remember the Kiki Camarena. There was a movie made about him called Drug Wars. Its a very sobering look at what its like to be a DEA agent. On February 7, 1985 Kiki was abducted by Mexican drug traffickers, brutally tortured and then killed.) The sad part about Kiki death was that our government was willing to turn its back on him. All in the name of Free Trade. Selling out the working men and women wasn't enough for the politicians in our country. The DEA took care of its own and found Kiki and returned his body to his family for an honorable burial.

The article and pictures below come from the DEA web site (http://www.dea.gov/). As parents and concerned citizens you should take the time to read the information on the DEA web site. Remember the saying "An ounce of prevention". Talk with you kids, it one of your biggest obligations to your kids and most importantly you do love your kids. Utilize the DARE program in your school system. Drug awareness works, so support you local law enforcement.

Three Islands, $70 Million in Assets Seized in DEA Drug Bust!

‘Operation Twin Oceans’ nets Most-Wanted Kingpin and 52 Tons of Cocaine. Brazil, Colombia, Panama & U.S. Involved in Arrests. These islands, owned by the Rayo-Montano organization, and located off the coast of Panama were seized by the Panama Authorities with the assistance of the DEA.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today announced the results of Operation Twin Oceans, a multi-jurisdictional investigation that targeted the Pablo RAYO-Montano drug trafficking organization (DTO), a cocaine ring responsible for smuggling more than 15 tons of cocaine per month from Colombia to the streets of the United States and Europe. An international coalition spearheaded by the Brazilian Federal Police, Panamanian Judicial Police, Colombian National Police, and DEA was responsible for dismantling this international drug cartel. This 3-year long investigation has resulted in over 100 arrests and the seizure of 47,555 kilograms of cocaine or the equivalent of 52 tons of cocaine, and nearly $70 million in assets.

As part of Operation Twin Oceans, three islands off the coast of Panama, personally owned by the RAYO-Montano organization, were seized. Additional seizures included assets such as yachts, fishing trawlers, art galleries, the largest fishing and boating store in Panama, and other commercial properties and businesses owned by the RAYO-Montano Organization.

Submersible used by the Rayo-Montano organization.

"The Rayo-Montano organization had its own private, rogue navy to run a drug business that was nearly as sophisticated as a small nation," said DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy. "As well-equipped and complex as this enterprise was, it was a matter of time before law enforcement caught on, and now Rayo-Montano’s decadent, drug-funded lifestyle has caught up with him. This morning, his real estate holdings went from three islands to one jail cell."

"Don Pablo" RAYO-Montano was the commander and controller of a 21st Century criminal organization whose Information Technology-literate managers used highly sophisticated methods to coordinate the movement of cocaine north and illegal drug proceeds south. In addition, the organization has been associated with Colombian narco-terrorist organizations such as the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the Norte del Valle Cartel.

U.S. Coast Guard intercepts a go-fast boat which had 744 kilos of cocaine on it.

RAYO-Montano was designated as a Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) in October 2005. He was arrested by the Sensitive Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Brazilian Federal Police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at his residence early Tuesday morning. The CPOT program is the cornerstone of the U.S. Department of Justice’s drug enforcement priority targeting strategy. In March 2002, the Office of the Attorney General announced a comprehensive six-part drug enforcement strategy designed to identify and target the world’s most significant drug supply organizations and their related components. The central element of the strategy was the development of the CPOT List, a rogue’s gallery of international kingpins who were responsible for the "command and control" of the most sophisticated and far reaching drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. RAYO-Montano is the 42nd arrest of a CPOT since the inception of the program.

"Operation Twin Oceans sends a strong message from the U.S. Department of Justice to narcotics traffickers: we will seize your ill-gotten property, and we will take away the rewards of your violent trade," said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Department of Justice Criminal Division.

Seized Sailboat

Operation Twin Oceans revealed a far-reaching cocaine trafficking and money laundering organization based out of Colombia that used a vast array of vessels to smuggle multi-ton loads of cocaine to the United States and Europe. RAYO-Montano started as a simple drug transporter in Buenaventura, Colombia almost two decades ago and evolved into the head of a world-wide criminal cartel. RAYO-Montano masterminded a comprehensive infrastructure that included all aspects of the cocaine trafficking hierarchy, to include production, international transportation/smuggling, wholesale distribution and money laundering. Maritime transshipment originated on both the west and northern coasts of Colombia and utilized fast boats, fishing boats, submersibles, and containerized cargo vessels, hence, the operational name "Twin Oceans."

As a result of outstanding international cooperation, Operation Twin Oceans was able to identify, target and dismantle all levels of criminal activity, from the Colombian source of supply to wholesale distributors in our local communities. Throughout the early morning hours of May 16, 2006, members of the RAYO-Montano organization were awakened with the execution of arrest and search warrants by international, federal, state and local law enforcement officers.

Indictments were returned in Operation Twin Oceans by grand juries supervised by the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida and the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section in Washington D.C. The charges include money laundering, and conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. If convicted, the defendants prosecuted in this investigation will face sentences ranging from a mandatory minimum of 10 years up to life imprisonment.

The law enforcement team in Operation Twin Oceans included an international coalition of investigative agencies spearheaded by DEA offices located in Miami, FL, Tampa, FL, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA, Indianapolis, IN, Cartagena and Bogota, Colombia, Sao Paulo, Brazil, San Jose, Costa Rica, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Guayaquil, Ecuador, Mexico City, Mexico, Panama City, Panama, Caracas, Venezuela, and Madrid, Spain. Critical to the successful conclusion of the operation were the efforts of the Sensitive Investigations Unit (SIU) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Colombian National Police Antinarcotics Judicial Unit in Cartagena, Colombia, the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) and Office of International Affairs (OIA), and our international law enforcement partners located in the countries of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and Venezuela. Strategic intelligence and operational support was provided by the DEA Special Operations Division based in Washington, D.C., the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy.

DEA Kick's Butt!!!!!!!

Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act

This bill was signed into law because drug dealers started taking crystal meth and making it taste like candy. There is a type of crystal meth going around that looks like strawberry pop rocks. It smells like strawberry also and it is being handed out to kids in school yards. I'm sure it will make its way around the country if it hasn't already. Kids are ingesting this thinking that it is candy and being rushed off to the E.R. in dire condition.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy have issued warnings on the trend of flavored methamphetamine. In San Francisco, police report that since late January they have been arresting teens in possession of meth designed to taste like chocolate.

Currently, federal law enhances the criminal penalties that apply when a person sells drugs to anyone under age 21. When this occurs, the federal penalties are doubled (or tripled for a repeat offense), and a penalty of at least one year must be applied. But this enhancement only applies if actual “distribution” to a minor is proven.

The Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act would apply the current penalty enhancement to anyone who “manufactures, creates, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute a controlled substance that is flavored, colored, packaged or otherwise altered in a way that is designed to make it more appealing to a person under 21 years of age, or who attempts or conspires to do so.”

Drug Endangered Children Act of 2007

The Drug Endangered Children Act of 2007 would extend a grant program authorized in the USA PATRIOT Reauthorization Act, by reauthorizing it at the same $20 million level previously approved by Congress, for an additional two years (FY2008/2009). These grants assist in the treatment of children who have been endangered by living at a home where methamphetamine has been manufactured or distributed, by allowing States to develop Drug Endangered Children programs, and interagency protocols, to coordinate the efforts of law enforcement, medical services, and child welfare workers, to ensure that children found in these environments receive appropriate attention and care.

DEA expands near the border:

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is tripling the size of its Rio Grande Valley headquarters in McAllen, giving agents space to keep up with an increasing workload along the Texas-Mexico border.

DEA officials plan to move into the new facility on Laurel Avenue near Jackson Road in McAllen sometime this summer, said Will Glaspy, head of the DEA’s Rio Grande Valley district, which extends from Starr County to Corpus Christi.

The building will serve as the agency’s district headquarters. There are also offices in Brownsville and Corpus Christi.

“The facility that we are in, we’ve been here since 1993,” Glaspy said. “We’ve outgrown it and we’re in need of a state-of-the-art facility that will give us the space we need.”

For the previous 15 years, the agency has used a federal building on Austin Avenue, near McAllen’s downtown district. The new building is located just blocks from the FBI’s McAllen office, which was finished in 2002.

There are no immediate plans to increase the number of agents in the McAllen district, Glaspy said. Authorization for an increase would need to come from DEA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and would require approval from the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House, he said.

“There are no immediate plans for an increase,” Glaspy said. “But we couldn’t even have those discussions before we got this building. I’m hopeful it will allow us the opportunity.”

Eventually, the DEA could triple its Valley presence. Glaspy wouldn’t disclose how many agents are currently employed in McAllen.

In all, the four-story building will have about 54,300 square feet of office space and a two-level underground parking garage with capacity for 146 vehicles. There will also be a 14,000-square-foot warehouse.

Virginia-based Harwood and Associates is building the facility; Harwood is then leasing the space to the DEA.

Unoccupied sections of the building will likely be used by other government agencies, Glaspy said, such as the Texas Department of Public Safety’s local narcotics unit.

The link below is to the web site "Snopes.com". The article on the web site shows what drug traffickers in Europe have come up with a way to transport drugs across the water ways of the world. The rubberized boat has 8 - 250Hp outboard engines. One thing is for sure, the drug traffickers are constantly coming up with innovated ways to transport their illegal drugs.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/boats/drugrunner.asp

U.S. Military Officer Gets 17 Years for Smuggling Drugs on Air Force Aircraft

Master Sergeant John Fong of the United States Air National Guard was sentenced on August 31, 2007, to 210 months in prison on federal narcotics charges stemming from his smuggling of Ecstasy onboard a U.S. Air Force plane. The investigation uncovered that Fong and a co-defendant flew from Germany to Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, aboard a United States Air Force C-5A "Galaxy" cargo aircraft on which they had hidden more than 200,000 Ecstasy pills.

Prescription Drug Scam Leads to 15 Arrests in Puerto Rico

15 individuals, including a doctor and several pharmacists, were arrested in San Juan, Puerto Rico on September 6th and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and dispense controlled substances. The object of the conspiracy was to write multiple prescriptions for controlled substances under different names then fill these prescriptions at three particular pharmacies throughout Puerto Rico. The indictment alleges that the principal defendant, Dr. Jose Victor Vazquez-Senti, wrote 26,904 or more prescriptions for Oxycodone and approximately 26,000 prescriptions for Alprazolam in less than 36 months. If convicted, the defendants face over 20 years in prison and fines well into the millions of dollars.

DEA Report: Cocaine, Meth Availability Down and Prices Up

Reporting from multiple statistical gathering sources suggest that since March 2007, cocaine availability in the United States has fallen significantly. Analysis of cocaine purchases submitted for forensic examination corroborate this decline in availability as indicated by an increase in the price per pure gram since December 2006 and a corresponding decrease in average purity. Likewise, research shows that the availability of methamphetamine has also declined while the price of the drug has increased by 37% in the first six months of 2007.

A Summer of Sequels: Second Phase of Operation Imperial Emperor Nets 59 Arrests

Operation Imperial Emperor, Phase II, culminated on August 23 with the arrests of 59 individuals and the seizure of $5.1 million, 664 pounds of cocaine, 142 pounds of methamphetamine, 434 pounds of marijuana, and a variety of weapons from a Mexican-based poly-drug trafficking/money laundering organization with cells located throughout Southern California. Over 200 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers took part in the raids throughout the Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. The estimated value of the drugs seized is in excess of $30 million. Imperial Emperor, Phase II comes on the heels of Phase I, which occurred in February 2007. More than 400 individuals were arrested in California, New York, Illinois, and Arizona during the initial phase.

DEA-Led Operation Puma Cages Southwest Border Drug Ring

Operation Puma, a multi-jurisdictional investigation that targeted an international drug trafficking and money laundering organization resulted in the arrest of 30 individuals in several different Texas counties. The organization was responsible for smuggling over 2,450 kilograms of cocaine and over 33 metric tons of marijuana across the U.S. - Mexico border. Included in the list of defendants charged for their alleged role in the drug trafficking enterprise investigated in Operation Puma is Sergio Maldonado of McKinney, Texas, who was the leader of a Gulf Cartel cell, based in North Texas. DEA teamed up with international, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to dismantle the organization, which had distribution cells along the Southwest Border and cities throughout the United States.

High-Ranking Female Member of Colombian FARC Narco-Terrorist Organization among 3 Convicted on U.S. Drug Charges

FEB 20 (WASHINGTON DC) A high-ranking female member of the designated foreign terrorist organization Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) has been convicted with two others in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on drug charges, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty announced today.

The jury in Washington, D.C., deliberated four days before returning the guilty verdicts earlier today. Nayibe Rojas Valderama, a/k/a “Sonia,” was convicted, along with co-defendants Jose Antonio Celis, a/k/a “Calvo,” and Juan Diego Giraldo, a/k/a “Flaco,” of narcotics trafficking. They had been indicted for conspiring to import five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States and conspiring to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine intending and knowing that the cocaine would be unlawfully imported into the United States. The U.S. government is seeking the forfeiture of all assets derived from the alleged violations.

Rojas Valderama was the finance officer of the 14th Front of the FARC, and is the highest-ranking FARC member to be convicted in the United States. She was extradited from Colombia to the United States in March 2005 to stand trial on the U.S. charges. At sentencing, the defendants face a mandatory minimum of ten years in prison or a term of years as determined by the court. Sentencing is scheduled for May 7, 2007 at 9:30 a.m.

“Today's convictions represent a significant victory against the FARC, one of the most dangerous narco-terrorist organizations operating in Colombia. The convictions were made possible by extraordinary cooperation from the Colombian government, our valued partner in the fight to eradicate narcotics trafficking,” said Deputy Attorney General McNulty. “This case sends a message to major overseas drug trafficking organizations: We will investigate, prosecute, and punish all those who manufacture and distribute illegal drugs for export to the United States. There is no international safe haven for illegal narcotics traffickers.”

“The FARC is a double evil – they poison the blood of our people with their drugs and spill the blood of their own with guns and machetes bought with drug profits,” said Administrator Karen Tandy of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “As a financial officer for the guerilla group, Sonia Valderama was directly responsible for converting drug money to blood money – that is, overseeing the conversion of millions of dollars of cocaine profits from cash to weapons, uniforms and ammunition to arm the most violent terrorists in this hemisphere.”

The evidence produced at trial consisted of the testimony of DEA agents, Colombian law enforcement officials and cooperating witnesses, as well as surveillance evidence of videotapes and tape-recorded conversations. The evidence showed that Rojas Valderama oversaw all aspects of the purchasing and production of cocaine in the 14th Front territory, and collected all of the proceeds from the sale of cocaine for the 14th Front. Jose Antonio Celis was a major drug trafficker who arranged for the purchase of large quantities of cocaine from Rojas Valderama and the 14th Front, and coordinated the transhipment of the cocaine from Colombia to Panama, and from Panama into the United States. Antonio Celis conspired with Rojas Valderama and Juan Diego Giraldo to purchase more than 5,000 kilograms of cocaine for shipment to the United States. Diego Giraldo introduced Calis to the 14th Front for the purpose of purchasing cocaine, worked with Rojas Valderama to purchase and transport cocaine, brought equipment for the 14th Front’s cocaine production operation, and assisted Rojas Valderama in all aspects of cocaine production and sale.

The FARC, a violent narco-terrorist guerrilla group operating in Colombia, controls large portions of Colombia and finances its violent conflict with the Colombian government by engaging in drug trafficking, augmented by other means including kidnapping and extortion. Drug trafficking is the lifeblood of the FARC because it enables the FARC to acquire weapons, ammunition and equipment necessary to carry on its violent attacks. DEA estimates that the FARC controls approximately 70 percent of the Colombian cocaine trade, and approximately 80 to 90 percent of the cocaine shipped to the United States comes from Colombia. The FARC produces and distributes thousands of kilograms per month for export to the United States and other countries.

A number of FARC members and criminal associates have been charged with terrorism and drug-related crimes in U.S. indictments. In addition to narcotics trafficking and other crimes, the indictments charge the FARC and its members with the kidnapping and murder of U.S. citizens.

Below is a speech that I thought was interesting and something we should all be aware of as concerned citizens.

Written Statement of Joseph T. Rannazzisi, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Department of Justice, May 16, 2007

Introduction

Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Specter, and distinguished Members of the Judiciary Committee, on behalf of the men and women of the Drug Enforcement Administration, I want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss the problem of prescription drug abuse, and in particular, the illegal distribution of controlled substance pharmaceuticals via the Internet. Non-medical use of addictive prescription drugs has been increasing throughout the United States at alarming rates. In 2005, an estimated 6.4 million Americans age 12 and older reported past month use of prescription drugs for non-medical purposes.1 Of these, 4.7 million used pain relievers non-medically. Nationally, the misuse of prescription drugs was second only to marijuana in CY 2005.

Part of this increase in abuse is fueled by the perception among many that prescription drugs are relatively safe when compared to what some might consider more conventional “street” drugs such as heroin or cocaine. There is relatively little stigma associated with prescription drugs. Because they are manufactured for a legitimate medical purpose, many take these drugs without the anxiety of thinking they will be ostracized for their habit. Perhaps even more alarming is the false sense of security associated with the abuse of these substances. Many feel as though if a doctor can prescribe it, the drug can’t be as harmful to your health. According to the 2005 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, 40% believe that prescription medicines are “much safer” to use than illegal drugs. Furthermore, the same study concluded that 31% believe there’s “nothing wrong” with using prescription medicines without a prescription “once in awhile.” The truth of the matter is, these controlled substances are not just highly dangerous, but they can prove lethal.

This study also found that teens believe a key reason for abusing prescription pain relievers is their widespread availability and easy access. This ease of access, which teens indicate is provided by parent's medicine cabinets, friend's prescriptions, and by the Internet, coupled with the lack of medical supervision and lack of quality control associated with illegal pharmacies, is a dangerous combination which has led to tragic consequences.

Prescription drugs can be illegally acquired through a variety of means, depending on the type of drug. While DEA and other law enforcement investigations have shown that OxyContin® and other schedule II drugs are most commonly obtained illegally through “doctor shopping” or other, more traditional methods of illegally acquiring controlled pharmaceutical substances, this has not been the case for schedule III or schedule IV substances. Schedule III and schedule IV drugs3 (e.g., anti-anxiety medications, hydrocodone combination products, and anabolic steroids), on the other hand, are increasingly accessible and often illegally purchased through the Internet. And unlike someone stealing a few pills out of the medicine cabinet from someone else’s prescription, large, high-potency sales of 100 or more pills occur hundreds of times everyday over the Internet.

The Internet as a Method of Diversion

The Internet has become one of the fastest methods used today to divert huge quantities of controlled pharmaceuticals. Certainly there are benefits to allowing individuals with a valid prescription to get their prescriptions over the Internet, ranging from simple convenience to providing individuals in remote areas or with limited mobility with access to needed medications they may not otherwise obtain. As with many other products, the Internet affords businesses access to a customer base not possible for a traditional “brick and mortar” location. The convenience appeals to consumers as well. Legitimate pharmacies operate everyday providing services over the Internet and operate well within the bounds of both the law and sound medical practice. In support of these legitimate efforts, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has established a registry of pharmacies that operate online and meet certain criteria, including compliance with licensing and inspection requirements of their state and each state to which they dispense pharmaceuticals.

Unfortunately, other so-called ‘pharmacy’ sites on the Internet today illegally sell controlled substance pharmaceuticals. These rogue Internet sites are not there to benefit the public, but to generate millions in illegal sales. To the uninformed individual these sites may seem convenient, cost-effective and safe, but to the investigator and the drug seeking individual there are indicators on the rogue sites which should serve as a warning that the site is operating beyond the bounds of what’s safe and legal.

A consumer will notice a level of authorization and accountability with legitimate sites that is very rare to find with a “rogue” site. Before you even access its main page, an illicit site will draw you in by advertising powerful prescription medicines. The drugs and their cost (often designed to convey the sense that the consumer is saving money, when in actuality, they’re frequently spending far more via “rogue” sites) are the first pieces of information these sites typically publish in order to get the customer’s attention. More often than not, a “rogue” site will also validate and process prescriptions based on the completion of a cursory questionnaire. This process is designed to elicit what drug the customer wants and what the method of payment will be, rather than diagnosing a health problem and establishing a sound course of medical treatment.

In contrast, a legitimate site will never authorize a prescription based merely on this criterion. There will be an expectation in working with a legitimate on-line pharmacy that a customer will have a prescription from a doctor before visiting the site—just as a customer would when visiting a brick and mortar drug store. While DEA does not certify websites or the legitimacy of Internet pharmaceutical sales, if an Internet pharmacy follows all rules applicable to their brick and mortar counterparts (including, but not limited to, ensuring a patient’s right to privacy, authenticating and securing prescription orders, and adhering to a recognized quality assurance policy), then the Internet pharmacy is acting in compliance with existing law.

Rogue sites, on the other hand, may provide bogus pictures of individuals wearing white lab coats designed to imply a level of trustworthiness, but these sites have structured themselves to avoid accountability for the products they sell. DEA believes a majority of the rogue sites operating today are based in the United States and work in concert with unscrupulous doctors and pharmacies. The fact that all of these individuals are complicit in this operation defeats the important checks and balances that have been established in the legitimate process of supplying controlled substance prescriptions to patients in need. While DEA has had some law enforcement successes against these organizations, the criminals promoting this activity are becoming more sophisticated. Their business model takes advantage of the anonymity of the Internet, the ease with which new web sites can be created, and the trust of the American people in the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products.

While this business model has evolved significantly over time (and we expect it to keep doing so), there are three primary players that facilitate these web sites: the doctor, the pharmacy, and the Internet facilitator. These three players collaborate in an almost seamless fashion.

Illegal pharmaceutical sales are promoted by Internet facilitators who have no medical training and are not DEA registrants. These facilitators start by targeting doctors who may be carrying a significant debt, such as a young doctor fresh out of medical school, or those who have retired and are looking for some extra income. The facilitator convinces these doctors that it’s OK to approve the prescriptions because they will be provided with some ‘medical history’ (submitted by the “patient” through a web site). Increasingly common is for the facilitator to provide an opportunity for the doctor to have a telephone conversation with the “patient” or for the “patient” to fax or email ‘medical’ information to the doctor. The doctor then approves a prescription for a schedule III or schedule IV substance with the mistaken belief or “justification” that these substances are not as “dangerous” as those in schedule II. (Note: The criminal penalties for violations involving schedule II substances can be significantly higher than for those involving a schedule III or IV substance.) This poorly constructed veil of medical evaluation is designed to provide added justification for the requested medicine. And for every prescription the doctor authorizes, the Internet facilitator will pay the doctor ten to twenty-five dollars. Law enforcement has discovered website-affiliated doctors who authorize hundreds of prescriptions a day.

The Internet facilitators will also recruit pharmacies into their scheme. They often target small, independent pharmacies struggling to make ends meet. The Internet facilitator will tell the pharmacist that all they have to do is fill and ship these prescriptions to customers. The prescriptions have all been approved by a doctor, and they are only for schedule III or schedule IV substances. In addition to paying the pharmacy for the cost of the medicine, the Internet facilitator will also pay the pharmacy an agreed upon amount that may reach into the millions of dollars. DEA has seen pharmacies close their doors completely to walk-in customers and convert their entire business to filling these orders.

The Internet facilitator generates the web sites that draw customers into this scheme. Web sites used by Internet facilitators often mislead the public by advertising themselves as pharmacies, but they do not operate in the same manner as brick-and-mortar pharmacies. These rogue sites offer only a few pharmaceutical products for sale, and are typically limited to only controlled substance and life-style drugs. Advertising typically emphasizes the ability to acquire controlled substances without a prescription or an appropriate examination, and none include a face-to-face medical examination from a licensed physician. They provide the customer with a wide-variety of quick and easy payment methods, ranging from cash-on-delivery to credit ‘gift’ cards. Various steps of the ordering process will link and shift the buyer to different web sites, making it difficult to connect payments, products, and web providers together. Rarely is there any identifying information on the web site about where the Internet pharmacy is located or who owns or operates the web site.

Frequently, and as mentioned in previous paragraphs, these web sites offer, at best, abbreviated medical interaction. This brief interlude is not meant to elicit meaningful health information; and is generally done by way of a questionnaire filled out by the customer without meaningful interaction between the doctor and the “patient”. All too often the questionnaire is a ruse constructed in a manner solely for the purpose of identifying exactly just what type of controlled substance the customer is looking to purchase. In some cases, we have seen web site questionnaires that will not allow the customer to continue unless the ‘right’ information is entered to “justify” the drugs being requested. For example, if someone wanted a weight-loss drug, but filled out the questionnaire saying they were five feet tall and weighed ninety pounds, the questionnaire would not allow the customer to advance until the provided height and weight were more conducive to someone needing a weight-loss drug.

The Effects of Rogue Internet Pharmacies

In calendar year 2006, thirty-four known or suspected rogue Internet pharmacies dispensed 98,566,711 dosage units of hydrocodone combination-products.4 To put this in perspective, controlled substances account for 11 percent of dosages at legitimate “brick and mortar” pharmacies in the United States versus 95 percent at these rogue Internet pharmacies. These thirty-four pharmacies alone dispensed enough hydrocodone combination-products to supply over 410,000 actual patients with a one-month supply at the maximum amount recommended per prescription.

Controlled pharmaceuticals in the United States are legitimately prescribed and dispensed within a closed system of distribution. Importers and manufacturers of controlled substances as well as physicians who dispense or prescribe them and pharmacies that fill controlled substance prescriptions are all DEA registrants subject to the Controlled Substance Act and the Code of Federal Regulations. As a closed system there are built-in checks and balances. Each registrant has a corresponding liability to keep the integrity of the closed system intact. However, with rogue Internet pharmacies there is complicity amongst all of the participants, effectively eliminating all of the normal checks and balances. Even some major corporations may turn a blind eye to obvious warning signs when supplying these rogue pharmacies.

Common methods of drug diversion, by their nature, provide some constraints on the amount of controlled substances individuals can acquire over a given period of time. These methods place the “patient” at a greater risk of being caught by law enforcement because the DEA registrant is frequently not complicit in the scheme and will report the suspicious behavior.

Vigil for Lost Promise

In June of 2006, DEA hosted the Candlelight Vigil for Lost Promise, in remembrance of those who have died from drug use. Several hundred parents and family members joined together to share their tragic stories of loss in an effort to raise awareness of the dangers of substance abuse and in hope that through awareness other families could avoid the loss they have suffered.

The sheer volume of controlled substances being dispensed anonymously over the Internet contributes significantly to other downstream methods of diversion, (e.g. children and young adults getting controlled substances from the medicine cabinet or family and friends). While studies such as National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicate that only a small percentage of youth get controlled pharmaceuticals via the Internet (the majority obtaining them from family and friends), it’s important to remember that when these individuals obtain these substances they generally acquire only a few pills at a time. In contrast, individuals ordering via the Internet frequently receive 100-120 pills at a time, making it a potentially much higher-volume source than friends or the family medicine cabinet.

But the consequences to those individuals who seek controlled prescription drugs illegally over the Internet can be just as dangerous and deadly as the consequences of those abusing more traditional substances, such as cocaine or heroin. Many parents of young people who died from the misuse of prescription drugs have told us that they were unaware of the source of the pills which killed their sons and daughters. However, in some cases, parents such as Francine Haight and others discovered that their children were using the Internet as the source for pharmaceuticals.

Linda Surks, mother of Jason Surks, testified before Congress last year about the tragedy which befell her family when they discovered that Jason had overdosed on prescription drugs at the age of 19. A pre-pharmacy major as an undergraduate, he had an academic curiosity about prescription drug formulas and combinations.

What they didn’t know was that Jason had been drawn in by the Internet facilitators who made it far too easy to order dangerous controlled substance pharmaceuticals from illicit online sites. A search of his computer after he died revealed that he had visited multiple Internet pharmacies. One in particular had automatically renewed his order regardless of whether or not Jason had actually placed it himself, even after he died. The drugs just kept coming.

Enforcement Challenges

As this threat has grown, DEA has also increased its effort to go after these cyber drug dealers. There no longer needs to be a direct interaction between these modern criminals and the drug seeker, they have the ability to reach directly into every computer on the Internet. Whether temptation in the form of a cleverly worded “spam” email or someone actively seeking to acquire narcotics without seeing a doctor, the Internet has created a whole new delivery and sales system for drug traffickers.

While Internet investigations do offer the advantage of having an extensive paper trail, the amount of information generated by one web transaction is so voluminous it becomes difficult to separate the important investigative information from the routine. The methods and structures of these online organizations continue to evolve, and we are watching some organizations adjust and shift operating methods in response to law enforcement initiatives.

In short, the Internet has provided drug trafficking organizations with the perfect medium. It connects individuals from anywhere in the globe at any time; it provides anonymity, and it can be deployed from almost anywhere with very little formal training. All of these features allow for a more rapid means of diverting larger and larger quantities of controlled substances. The proliferation of rogue Internet pharmacies has also brought new legal challenges

DEA’s Response

Operation Cyber Chase

In 2005, the dismantlement of the Brij Bansal Internet trafficking organization resulted in the arrest of over 20 individuals distributing drugs worldwide via Internet pharmacies. Arrests were made in the U.S., India, Costa Rica, Austria, and Hungary. Despite these challenges, DEA has been successfully using the tools that we have to counter this growing threat. We are using all current regulatory tools possible to identify and shut down those that choose to operate outside of the Controlled Substance Act. DEA is using the Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS) to identify high or excessive volume purchases and determine which retail pharmacies and practitioners are likely to be involved in the illicit distribution of controlled substances via the Internet. Typically, a traditional independent brick and mortar pharmacy will sell about 180 prescriptions per day. Of these sales, only 11 percent will involve controlled substances. Conversely, the typical ‘cyber’ pharmacy will sell around 450 prescriptions each day—425 of these, or 95 percent, will involve controlled substances.

Both manufacturers and distributors are only required to provide information electronically to the ARCOS data base about any sale of narcotic substances. Although this data is limited to narcotics, DEA is able to develop leads and augment investigations from this information.

In addition to trying to identify the retail pharmacies that are involved in the illegal sale of controlled substances over the Internet, DEA has also begun educating and, when appropriate, taking legal action against, the distributors who are providing these pharmacies with the huge

Operation Click4Drugs

In 2006, the dismantlement of this drug trafficking organization that used over 300 websites (one pharmacy filled over 2000 Internet prescriptions per day) and passed $25 million through six bank accounts per month, resulted in 27 arrests and the seizure of $17 million in assets (including currency) quantities of pharmaceuticals being sold. In 2006, DEA began an Internet Distributor Initiative designed to focus on the more than 800 DEA registered distributors of controlled substances. DEA has focused on these distributors because, for any transaction involving controlled substances, whether from the manufacturer to the distributor, from the distributor to the pharmacy, or from the pharmacist to the patient, the seller has a legal obligation to ensure the substances transferred are not destined for diversion. In other words, the seller may not facilitate, or otherwise contribute to, the diversion of the substances sold. DEA’s educational presentation to these distributors provides wholesalers some examples of domestic Internet pharmacies, their purchase patterns, and methods of operation. The presentation is designed to emphasize to wholesalers their obligation not to sell where diversion appears to be occurring or face the loss of their DEA registration or judicial sanctions. While these educational efforts were successful in some situations, DEA has had to initiate appropriate administrative, civil, or criminal sanctions against some distributors.

Operation CybeRX

The Johar Saran drug trafficking organization was responsible for the illegal distribution of approximately 3.5 million dosage units of Schedule III-IV controlled substances per month which resulted in a gross income of approximately 2.7 million in that same period. Saran and his associated were indicted on over 200 counts. Seizures included approximately $17 million in cash, bank accounts, and property. In addition to working with DEA registrants, DEA has also developed a productive relationship with other businesses that are affected or inadvertently used to facilitate these Internet pharmacies. Since 2003, DEA has been working with Internet-related businesses regarding the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals. DEA’s Internet Industry Initiative was established to exploit the weaknesses inherent to the schemes used by Internet traffickers who rely extensively on the commercial services of three principal legitimate business sectors: Internet service providers7; express package delivery companies; and financial services companies, including major credit card companies and third party payment service providers. And in 2004, DEA became part of a federal interagency task force (with FDA, FBI, CBP, ICE) established to combat the increasing diversion of pharmaceuticals over the Internet.

In FY 2004, DEA established a specialized section within its Special Operations Division

(SOD) to coordinate multi-jurisdictional Title III investigations involving the diversion of pharmaceuticals and chemicals over the Internet. During FY 2006, SOD has coordinated over 90 Internet investigations, resulting in the arrest of approximately 64 individuals and the seizure of approximately 14 million dosage units of controlled substances and approximately $30.9 million in U.S. currency. In FY 2006, 14.7 percent of Diversion Control Program case work hours were dedicated to diversion cases involving the Internet. This was an increase of approximately 27 percent from FY 2005 when Internet cases represented 11.3 percent of the investigative work hours and an increase of 50 percent from FY 2004 when 8.8 percent of investigative work hours were for Internet cases.

Conclusion

Drug traffickers continue to exploit the Internet and threaten the health and safety of Americans. Nevertheless, the DEA has refined its methods by which we identify, pursue, and ultimately dismantle these groups and we remain committed to bringing to bear all of the resources at our disposal to fight this growing problem while simultaneously ensuring an uninterrupted supply of controlled pharmaceuticals for legitimate demands. DEA’s core mission of disrupting and dismantling drug trafficking organizations, including those who seek to illegally distribute licit drugs, is an integral component to the 2006 Synthetic Drug Control Strategy and we will continue to implement this aspect of the Strategy with our inter-agency partners to combat controlled substance pharmaceutical diversion.

The DEA takes down a couple of the big time drug traffickers in Mexico.

APR 27 -- Federal law enforcement officials today announced that Ismael Higuera-Guerrero and his brother, Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero have pled guilty in federal court in San Diego to federal racketeering charges arising from their participation in the Arellano-Felix Drug Trafficking Organization (AFO). According to court documents unsealed today, Ismael Higuera-Guerrero entered his plea in a sealed court proceeding on March 16, 2007, before United States District Judge Larry A. Burns. Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero’s plea was entered in an open court hearing earlier today before Judge Burns.

“The Higuera-Guerrero brothers were leaders in what was once the towering Arellano Felix drug cartel that laid claim to and terrorized the Tijuana corridor leading into the United States,” said DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy. “These pleas, along with the arrests of six other top lieutenants of this Tijuana cartel, are breaking the back of this once-terrifying network.”

In connection with his plea, Ismael Higuera-Guerrero admitted that from about 1988 to his arrest in May 2000, he was the AFO’s top lieutenant, acting at the direction of the AFO’s principal leaders, the Arellano-Felix Brothers. As admitted in his plea, Ismael Higuera-Guerrero supervised other upper-echelon AFO lieutenants, including his brother, Gilberto, and oversaw the AFO’s day-to-day operations. Ismael Higuera-Guerrero admitted that those operations included receiving multi-ton shipments of cocaine and marijuana in Mexico, transporting those drugs to the Tijuana/Mexicali area, and shipping those drugs across the border into the United States. Ismael Higuera-Guerrero also admitted supervising the collection of millions of dollars in drug proceeds in the U.S., the transportation of those proceeds back to Mexico, and the transmittal of payments to Colombian sources of supply. Higuera-Guerrero further admitted arranging for the regular payment of bribes to corrupt government and law enforcement officials, and that he oversaw the AFO’s “policing” of the Tijuana and Mexicali “plazas,” which included the kidnapping, torture, and murder of AFO “enemies.” These enemies included rival traffickers, uncooperative government and law enforcement officials and AFO members suspected of betraying the cartel in one form or another, including cooperation with law enforcement.

Today, Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero pled guilty to a two-count Superseding Information charging him with a Racketeering offense and with the Commission of a Violent Act in Aid of Racketeering -- both charges relating to his role in the AFO. In connection with his plea, Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero admitted that he was an AFO lieutenant and that he worked closely with Manuel Aguirre-Galindo, on behalf of the Arellano-Felix brothers, coordinating the receipt of multi-ton cocaine shipments in Mexico, and the importation of that cocaine into the United States. Gilberto, like Ismael, also admitted to involvement in the collection of AFO drug trafficking proceeds, and the “policing” of the Tijuana/Mexicali “plazas,” including the kidnapping and murder of AFO “enemies.”

In December 2003, a seventh Superseding Indictment was filed in the Southern District of California charging 11 individuals, including both Ismael and Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero, with racketeering, drug trafficking, and money laundering offenses. The 11 defendants allegedly constituted the AFO’s top hierarchy. On January 19, 2007, the Higuera-Guerrero brothers were among two of 15 major drug defendants and other criminals extradited to the United States from Mexico, in what Attorney General Alberto Gonzales described as an “unprecedented” and “bold” stance by “President Felipe Calderon and his government in targeting the drug-related violence and corruption that affects both our nations." The Higuera-Guerrero brothers were extradited to face the charges in the seventh Superseding Indictment. That indictment was specifically structured to comply with decisions by Mexican courts that prohibited the extradition of Mexican nationals facing life in prison or the death penalty.

United States Attorney Hewitt stated, “We thank the Mexican government for supporting the prosecution of members of an organized criminal organization that has perpetrated countless crimes of violence and widespread drug trafficking in the United States. The two criminal pleas announced today could not have occurred without the assistance of Mexico, culminating in the extradition of the Higuera-Guerrero brothers to the United States.” United States Attorney Hewitt also commended the outstanding efforts of the DEA, IRS and FBI for the investigation which resulted in these criminal pleas.

“Today’s guilty pleas speak volumes about the futility of committing drug crimes against the United States. Wholesale drug trafficking and the lifestyle it supports may seem compelling, but there is no job security and no pension plan – at the end of the day the DEA will likely help shape your golden years,” said Alan Poleszak, DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge, San Diego Field Division.

“The financial investigation in cases involving major drug traffickers is the critical component to dismantling the economic backbone of these harmful organizations. These high-profile drug organizations, as we have recently seen south of the border, utilize vicious, violent, and sometimes unimaginable means to protect and promote their evil empire. As dedicated financial investigators, we will expose and sever every possible financial link that is associated with these drug traffickers so they will not be able to reinvest their illicit proceeds. We stand together with our law enforcement partners here in the U.S. and in Mexico, to put an end to these organizations that continue to harm our communities,” said Kenneth J. Hines, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, San Diego Field Office.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel R. Dzwilewski commented, “Today's plea agreements are the result of law enforcement on both sides of the border working together to effectively dismantle the AFO. Only through partnership can we curtail the extreme violence and criminal activity the AFO has advocated for so long. Though the list is long, the FBI and our partners in law enforcement remain vigilant and will continue to pursue and investigate those with affiliations to the AFO.”

According to court documents, Ismael Higuera-Guerrero’s plea required him to stipulate to the maximum 20-year statutory sentence for each of the two racketeering charges to which he pled guilty. Furthermore, he agreed that each 20-year term would be imposed to run consecutively, not concurrently, resulting in a stipulated 40-year sentence. Ismael Higuera-Guerrero’s plea also required him to stipulate to a $5,000,000 forfeiture. Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero’s plea required him to stipulate to the maximum 20-year statutory sentence on the racketeering charge and the maximum 10-year sentence on the commission of a violent act in aid of racketeering enterprise charges. Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero also stipulated that each of the sentences would run consecutively, not concurrently, resulting in a stipulated 30-year sentence. Finally, Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero’s plea required him to stipulate to the forfeiture of $1,000,000.

Sentencing for Ismael Higuera-Guerrero is scheduled for June 11, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. Sentencing for Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero is scheduled for August 13, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. Both sentencing hearings are before United States District Judge Larry A. Burns.

DEFENDANTS Case Number: 06cr2646-LAB

Ismael Higuera-Guerrero Age: 46 Republic of Mexico

Gilberto Higuera-Guerrero Age: 39 Republic of Mexico

SUMMARY OF CHARGES TO WHICH ISMAEL HIGUERA-GUERRERO PLED GUILTY

Count 1 of the 7th Superseding Indictment - Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(c) –

Conducting the Affairs of an Enterprise Through a Pattern of Racketeering Activity

Count 2 - the 7th Superseding Indictment - Title 18, United States Code, Section (1962)(d) –

Conspiracy to Conduct the Affairs of an Enterprise Through a Pattern of Racketeering Activity

Maximum penalties for each offense: 20 years in prison, $250,000 fine, 5 years of supervised release

SUMMARY OF CHARGES TO WHICH GILBERTO HIGUERA-GUERRERO PLED GUILTY

Count 1 of a Superseding Information - Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(c) –

Conducting the Affairs of an Enterprise Through a Pattern of Racketeering Activity

Count 2 of the Superseding Information - Title 18, United States Code, Section 1959(a)(5)

Violent Act In Aid of Racketeering Enterprise

Maximum penalties for Count 1: 20 years in prison, $250,000 fine, 5 years of supervised release

Maximum penalties for Count 2: 10 years in prison, $250,000 fine, 5 years of supervised release

INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

Drug Enforcement Administration

Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

California Department of Justice

United States Marshal’s Service

Federal Register 32889

Presidential Documents

Volume 51 Number180

Wednesday, September 17, 1986

Title 3– The President

Executive Order 12564 of September 15, 1986

Drug-Free Federal Workplace:

I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, find that:

Ø Drug use is having serious adverse effects upon a significant proportion of the national work force and results in billions of dollars of lost productivity each year;

Ø The Federal government, as an employer, is concerned with the well-being of its employees, the successful accomplishment of agency missions, and the need to maintain employee productivity;

Ø The Federal government, as the largest employer in the Nation, can and should show the way towards achieving drug-free workplaces through a program designed to offer drug users a helping hand and, at the same time, demonstrating to drug users and potential drug users that drugs will not be tolerated in the Federal workplace;

Ø The profits from illegal drugs provide the single greatest source of income for organized crime, fuel violent street crime, and otherwise contribute to the breakdown of our society;

Ø The use of illegal drugs, on or off duty, by Federal employees is inconsistent not only with the law-abiding behavior expected of all citizens, but also with the special trust placed in such employees as servants of the public;

Ø Federal employees who use illegal drugs, on or off duty, tend to be less productive, less reliable, and prone to greater absenteeism than their fellow employees who do not use illegal drugs;

Ø The use of illegal drugs, on or off duty, by Federal employees impairs the efficiency of Federal departments and agencies, undermines public confidence in them, and makes it more difficult for other employees who do not use illegal drugs to perform their jobs effectively. The use of illegal drugs, on or off duty, by Federal employees also can pose a serious health and safety threat to members of the public and to other Federal employees;

Ø The use of illegal drugs, on or off duty, by Federal employees in certain positions evidences less than the complete reliability, stability, and good judgment that is consistent with access to sensitive information and creates the possibility of coercion, influence, and irresponsible action under pressure that may pose a serious risk to national security, the public safety, and the effective enforcement of the law; and

Ø Federal employees who use illegal drugs must themselves be primarily responsible for changing their behavior and, if necessary, begin the process of rehabilitating themselves.

Ø By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, including section 3301(2) of Title 5 of the United States Code, section 7301 of Title 5 of the United States Code, section 290ee-1 of Title 42 of the United States Code, deeming such action in the best interests of national security, public health and safety, law enforcement and the efficiency of the Federal service, and in order to establish standards and procedures to ensure fairness in achieving a drug-free Federal workplace and to protect the privacy of Federal employees, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Drug-Free Workplace.

(a) Federal employees are required to refrain from the use of illegal drugs.

(b) The use of illegal drugs by Federal employees, whether on duty or off duty, is contrary to the efficiency of the service.

Section 2 Agency Responsibilities.

(a) The head of each Executive agency shall develop a plan for achieving the objective of a drug-free workplace with due consideration of the rights of the government, the employee, and the general public.

(b) Each agency plan shall include:

(1) A statement of policy setting forth the agency's expectations regarding drug use and the action to be anticipated in response to identified drug use;

(2) Employee Assistance Programs emphasizing high level direction, education, counseling, referral to rehabilitation, and coordination with available community resources;

(3) Supervisory training to assist in identifying and addressing illegal drug use by agency employees;

(4) Provision for self-referrals as well as supervisory referrals to treatment with maximum respect for individual confidentiality consistent with safety and security issues; and

(5) Provision for identifying illegal drug users, including testing on a controlled and carefully monitored basis in accordance with this Order.

Section. 3. Drug Testing Programs.

(a) The head of each Executive agency shall establish a program to test for the use of illegal drugs by employees in sensitive positions. The extent to which such employees are tested and the criteria for such testing shall be determined by the head of each agency, based upon the nature of the agency's mission and its employees' duties, the efficient use of agency resources, and the danger to the public health and safety or national security that could result from the failure of an employee adequately to discharge his or her position.

(b) The head of each Executive agency shall establish a program for voluntary employee drug testing.

(c) In addition to the testing authorized in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, the head of each Executive agency is authorized to test an employee for illegal drug use under the following circumstances:

(1) When there is a reasonable suspicion that any employee uses illegal drugs;

(2) In an examination authorized by the agency regarding an accident or unsafe practice; or

(3) As part of or as a follow-up to counseling or rehabilitation for illegal drug use through an Employee Assistance Program.

(d) The head of each Executive agency is authorized to test any applicant for illegal drug use.

Section. 4. Drug Testing Procedures.

(a) Sixty days prior to the implementation of a drug testing program pursuant to this Order, agencies shall notify employees that testing for use of illegal drugs is to be conducted and that they may seek counseling and rehabilitation and inform them of the procedures for obtaining such assistance through the agency's Employee Assistance Program. Agency drug testing programs already ongoing are exempted from the 60-day notice requirement. Agencies may take action under section 3(c) of this Order without reference to the 60-day notice period.

(b) Before conducting a drug test, the agency shall inform the employee to be tested of the opportunity to submit medical documentation that may support a legitimate use for a specific drug.

(c) Drug testing programs shall contain procedures for timely submission of requests for retention of records and specimens; procedures for retesting; and procedures, consistent with applicable law, to protect the confidentiality of test results and related medical and rehabilitation records. Procedures for providing urine specimens must allow individual privacy, unless the agency has reason to believe that a particular individual may alter or substitute the specimen to be provided.

(d) The Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to promulgate scientific and technical guidelines for drug testing programs, and agencies shall conduct their drug testing programs in accordance with these guidelines once promulgated.

Section. 5. Personnel Actions.

(a) Agencies shall, in addition to any appropriate personnel actions, refer any employee who is found to use illegal drugs to an Employee Assistance Program for assessment, counseling, and referral for treatment or rehabilitation as appropriate.

(b) Agencies shall initiate action to discipline any employee who is found to use illegal drugs, provided that such action is not required for an employee who:

(1) Voluntarily identifies himself as a user of illegal drugs or who volunteers for drug testing pursuant to section 3(b) of this Order, prior to being identified through other means;

(2) Obtains counseling or rehabilitation through an Employee Assistance Program: and

(3) Thereafter refrains from using illegal drugs.

(c) Agencies shall not allow any employee to remain on duty in a sensitive position who is found to use illegal drugs, prior to successful completion of rehabilitation through an Employee Assistance Program. However, as part of a rehabilitation or counseling program, the head of an Executive agency may, in his or her discretion, allow an employee to return to duty in a sensitive position if it is determined that this action would not pose a danger to public health or safety or the national security.

(d) Agencies shall initiate action to remove from the service any employee who is found to use illegal drugs and:

(1) Refuses to obtain counseling or rehabilitation through an Employee Assistance Program; or

(2) Does not thereafter refrain from using illegal drugs.

(e) The results of a drug test and information developed by the agency in the course of the drug testing of the employee may be considered in processing any adverse action against the employee or for other administrative purposes. Preliminary test results may not be used in an administrative proceeding unless they are confirmed by a second analysis of the same sample or unless the employee confirms the accuracy of the initial test by admitting the use of illegal drugs.

(f) The determination of an agency that an employee uses illegal drugs can be made on the basis of any appropriate evidence, including direct observation, a criminal conviction, administrative inquiry, or the results of an authorized testing program. Positive drug test results may be rebutted by other evidence that an employee has not used illegal drugs.

(g) Any action to discipline an employee who is using illegal drugs (including removal from the service, if appropriate) shall be taken in compliance with otherwise applicable procedures, including the Civil Service Reform Act.

(h) Drug testing shall not be conducted pursuant to this Order for the purpose of gathering evidence for use in criminal proceedings. Agencies are not required to report to the Attorney General for investigation or prosecution any information, allegation, or evidence relating to violations of Title 21 of the United States Code received as a result of the operation of drug testing programs established pursuant to this Order.

Section. 6. Coordination of Agency Programs.

(a) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall:

(1) Issue government-wide guidance to agencies on the implementation of the terms of this Order;

(2) Ensure that appropriate coverage for drug abuse is maintained for employees and their families under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program;

(3) Develop a model Employee Assistance Program for Federal agencies and assist the agencies in putting programs in place;

(4) In consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, develop and improve training programs for Federal supervisors and managers on illegal drug use: and

(5) In cooperation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and heads of Executive agencies, mount an intensive drug awareness campaign throughout the Federal work force.

(b) The Attorney General shall render legal advice regarding the implementation of this Order and shall be consulted with regard to all guidelines, regulations, and policies proposed to be adopted pursuant to this Order.

(c) Nothing in this Order shall be deemed to limit the authorities of the Director of Central Intelligence under the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, or the statutory authorities of the National Security Agency or the Defense Intelligence Agency. Implementation of this Order within the Intelligence Community, as defined in Executive Order No. 12333, shall be subject to the approval of the head of the affected agency.

Section. 7. Definitions.

(a) This Order applies to all agencies of the Executive Branch.

(b) For purposes of this Order, the term "agency" means an Executive agency, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105; the Uniformed Services, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2101 (3) (but excluding the armed forces as defined by 5 U.S.C. 2101(2)); or any other employing unit or authority of the Federal government, except the United States Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, and employing units or authorities in the Judicial and Legislative Branches.

(c) For purposes of this Order, the term "illegal drugs" means a controlled substance included in Schedule I or II, as defined by section 802(6) of Title 21 of the United States Code, the possession of which is unlawful under chapter 13 of that Title. The term "illegal drugs" does not mean the use of a controlled substance pursuant to a valid prescription or other uses authorized by law.

(d) For purposes of this Order, the term "employee in a sensitive position" refers to:

(1) An employee in a position that an agency head designates Special-Sensitive, Critical-Sensitive, or Noncritical-Sensitive under Chapter 731 of the Federal Personnel Manual or an employee in a position that an agency head designates as sensitive in accordance with Executive Order No. 10450, as amended;

(2) An employee who has been granted access to classified information or may be granted access to classified information pursuant to a determination of trustworthiness by an agency head under Section 4 of Executive Order No. 12356;

(3) Individuals serving under Presidential appointments;

(4) Law enforcement officers as defined in 5 U.S.C. 8331(20); and

(5) Other positions that the agency head determines involve law enforcement, national security, the protection of life and property, public health or safety, or other functions requiring a high degree of trust and confidence.

(e) For purposes of this Order, the term "employee" means all persons appointed in the Civil Service as described in 5 U.S.C. 2105 (but excluding persons appointed in the armed services as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2102(2)).

(f) For purposes of this Order, the term "Employee Assistance Program" means agency-based counseling programs that offer assessment, short-term counseling, and referral services to employees for a wide range of drug, alcohol, and mental health programs that affect employee job performance. Employee Assistance Programs are responsible for referring drug-using employees for rehabilitation and for monitoring employees' progress while in treatment.

Sec. 8. Effective Date. This Order is effective immediately.

Ronald Reagan

THE WHITE HOUSE,

September 15, 1986.

This is a excellent speech about the dangers of Methamphetamine's and what the DEA is doing to combat the terrible drug. The speech also includes facts about the abuse of prescription drugs and legalized medical cannabis. Its a very compelling speech.

Written Statement of

Joseph T. Rannazzisi, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Department of Justice.

July 12, 2007

Introduction

Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Forbes, and distinguished members of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, thank you for the opportunity to appear today and discuss and clarify any misapprehensions the Subcommittee may have regarding the role the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) plays in enforcing the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, upholding the Supreme Court decision Ashcroft vs. Raich, supporting cannabis research, and the responsibilities doctors in prescribing scheduled medications.

The Investigation of Methamphetamine Precursor Distribution

Methamphetamine is unique from other illicit drugs of abuse in that it is an easy to make synthetic drug and its precursor chemicals have historically been easy to obtain and inexpensive to purchase. These factors have contributed to methamphetamine’s rapid sweep across our nation. In March 2006, reacting to the devastating impact that the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine was having on our nation, Congress enacted the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 (Title VII of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, P.L. 109-177) or CMEA. Among other things, the Act established a system to monitor and regulate the importation, production, and retail sales of non-prescription ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine products - common ingredients found in over-the-counter cough, cold, and allergy products. These chemicals and drugs were included in CMEA because they are key precursors used in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine or amphetamine. This legislation provided law enforcement and regulators with tools invaluable to the containment of the drugs’ production.

As a result of the CMEA, the ability of pseudoephedrine to be sold on the spot market was effectively taken away. These transactions, which were not regulated under prior law, are now treated as new imports or exports and, therefore, subject to 15 day advance notification during which the DEA verifies the legitimacy of each transaction. In addition, the Department of Justice now has the authority to establish production and import quotas for ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine. These quotas will allow for greater control of precursors that are imported into the United States.

Retail provisions of the CMEA became effective in September 2006 and include self-certification, employee training, product packaging and placement requirements, sales logbooks, and daily and 30-day sales/purchase limits. In order to purchase products containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, an individual must now show identification and sign a log book at sales locations. Law enforcement is able to monitor these log books in order to identify any person purchasing more than 9 grams within a 30-day period. CMEA also created a national database of self-certification records available to state and local law enforcement agencies to document those retail sales locations that have complied with the requirements of this law. As a testament to the effectiveness of the CMEA (and similar predecessor laws passed by the states), show a 58% decrease in the number of methamphetamine laboratories in 2006 from the previous year. DEA statistics Additional CMEA provisions include: requiring DEA to conduct an assessment of the annual need of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, establishing production and import limits, requiring DEA be noticed of transfers following importation or exportation of methamphetamine precursor chemicals, and removing previously established sales thresholds, among others.

DEA is committed to keeping our communities safe from the dangers of methamphetamine production and abuse. Preventing the use of these chemicals in clandestine methamphetamine labs and via enforcement of the CMEA is an important element in that effort.

Investigations of Physicians Who Over-Prescribe Scheduled Drugs

The abuse of prescription drugs is a serious and growing health problem in this country. According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, there were more than 6.4 million current non-medical users of psychotherapeutic drugs in the United States - more than the number of Americans abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants, combined. If we look at the people who are just starting out as new drug users, prescription drugs have overtaken marijuana and cocaine as the gateway drug of choice.

One of the goals set forth in this Administration’s 2006 Synthetic Drug Control Strategy is to reduce the abuse, or non-medical use, of prescription drugs by 15 percent over the next three years. Consistent with that end, a primary role of the DEA is to prevent the diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances while ensuring an adequate supply for legitimate medical and scientific needs.

Diversion of legitimate controlled substances occurs from a number of sources, including, the Internet, pharmacy theft, doctor shopping, prescription forgery, and other means. Unfortunately, a small number of unscrupulous doctors are also illegally supplying those drugs. Although there are very few of them, they can cause tremendous damage. One such doctor in Panama City, Florida, was diverting so many OxyContin pills to abusers and traffickers that after the DEA arrested him, the street price of

OxyContin nearly doubled in the area because of the significantly diminished availability of the drug.

In 2006, there were approximately 750,000 medical doctors and doctors of osteopathic medicine registered with DEA. In any given year, including this past year, less than one in every ten thousand physicians in the United States loses his controlled substance registration based on a DEA investigation for improper prescribing—that is less than .01 percent of all physicians. And far fewer of those physicians are criminally prosecuted for improper prescribing.

The longstanding requirement under the law that physicians may prescribe controlled substances only for legitimate medical purposes in the usual course of professional practice should in no way interfere with the legitimate practice of medicine or cause any physician to be reluctant to provide legitimate treatment. And the DEA’s responsibility to enforce the law does not diminish our firm commitment to the balanced policy of promoting pain relief and preventing the abuse of pain medications. To help physicians meet the challenge of ensuring that people who medically need drugs get them, and that those who are diverting them don’t, the DEA has developed several initiatives since last fall.

On September 6, 2006, we published in the Federal Register Dispensing Controlled Substances for the Treatment of Pain, a policy statement that reiterated the requirements of the Controlled Substances Act and the physician’s long-standing responsibility to take reasonable steps to prevent diversion. The DEA also published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which proposes to amend the DEA regulations to permit doctors to issue multiple Schedule II prescriptions during a single office visit, allowing patients to receive up to a 90-day supply of controlled substances according to the fill date that the doctor gives the pharmacist.

The DEA also launched a new section on its website to provide everyone with the facts on investigations against doctors who violate federal drug laws. It’s called “Cases Against Doctors.” So far, DEA has had more than 86,000 hits to the site. DEA created this site to provide the public with information about the scope of violations that cause DEA to investigate doctors.

In addition, the DEA also updated (and posted on its website) its Practitioner’s Manual to aid doctors with their responsibility to take reasonable steps to prevent diversion and abuse. Before it finalized the Practitioner’s Manual, the DEA asked a number of doctors to review its updates to the earlier 1990 edition, and they found the new edition helpful in understanding their legal obligations in prescribing drugs.

The DEA agrees that doctors can and should prescribe controlled substances under legitimate medical standards to treat patients in pain. The DEA knows that doctors overwhelmingly agree with what Congress mandates it do: enforce our nation’s laws to ensure drugs are used only for the health and welfare of the public.

Cannabis Research

Approval to conduct clinical research involving Schedule I substances in the United States is a joint process involving both the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Clinical studies of a substance for use as a drug must be performed by well qualified applicants who meet the most rigorous of standards in order to conduct bona fide research.

Following the procedures described in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, new applicants submit their applications to the DEA with research protocols and individual qualifications (typically a resume or curriculum vitae). The DEA is responsible for evaluating whether effective measures to adequately safeguard against diversion are in place as well as assessing factors relating to public interest (See 21 U.S.C. 811(b)). After a preliminary review to ensure completeness of the application and accompanying material, the application package is sent to the Controlled Substances Staff of the FDA and the DEA field office in the area of the proposed research. FDA’s role is to determine the qualifications and competency of the applicant, as well as the merits of the protocol. The DEA field office conducts an on-site, pre-registrant investigation, including a personal interview with the applicant, to ensure that security is adequate to prevent diversion or abuse of the controlled substance.

Upon receipt of favorable reports from both the FDA and the DEA field office, a certificate of registration is issued to the researcher. No research with a Schedule I controlled substance can be initiated until the DEA approves the application and a Schedule I research registration is assigned. The DEA has never denied an application to a researcher when FDA has determined that the qualifications and merits of the applicant (as well as of the research proposed) are acceptable, and that adequate security measures are in place.

At present 110 researchers are registered to perform studies within the drug category which includes marijuana, marijuana extracts and non-tetrahydrocannabinol marijuana derivatives that exist in the plant, such as cannabidiol and cannabinol. These studies include evaluation of abuse potential, physical/psychological effects, adverse effects, therapeutic potential, and detection. Nineteen researchers are currently approved to conduct research with smoked marijuana on human subjects.

Enforcing Federal Law in Light of Claims that Marijuana is “Medicine"

Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under Title 21 of the United States Code. As defined by law, a Schedule I substance is one that has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, no accepted safety for use under medical supervision and a high potential for abuse. Along with marijuana, other Schedule I controlled substances include heroin and LSD.

Under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), DEA is required to act in consultation with the FDA in determining whether a controlled substance has a currently accepted medical use. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), it is unlawful to market a new drug in the United States unless FDA approves the drug as being both safe and effective for the treatment of disease or condition. To date, FDA has not found marijuana to be safe and effective for the treatment of any disease or condition. Given the absence of sound scientific evidence establishing that marijuana can be used safely and effectively as medicine, it remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the CSA and illegal under the FDCA to market as a drug. Reviews of the scientific evidence can be triggered by an application to the FDA for approval of marketing of a new drug, or for the new formulation of an existing drug. Reviews can also be triggered by rescheduling petition requests filed with the DEA.

DEA's efforts to enforce Federal law surrounding the possession and trafficking of marijuana have been hampered by the passage of laws in several states which inhibit State and local law enforcement from acting against individuals and organizations selling marijuana under the pretence that it has medicinal value.

Law enforcement has seen a growing list of ailments used by dealers, patients and physicians to justify smoking marijuana. It has become so exhaustive that anyone could claim “a medical need”. That list includes ADD, headaches, arthritis, PMS, IBS, hepatitis, renal failure, hypertension, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, paranoia, bipolar affective disorder, alcoholism, cocaine and amphetamine addiction, epilepsy, bronchitis, emphysema, osteoporosis, degenerative disc disease, polio, ulcers, stuttering, seizures, color blindness and various types of pain. In a USA Today article on March 8, 2007, Scott Imler, who co-wrote the California “medical” marijuana initiative in 1995 said, “What we set out to do was put something in the statutes that said medicine was a defense in case they got arrested using marijuana for medical reasons. What we got was a whole different thing, a big new industry.” Imler added “I was pretty naïve, I thought people would act in good faith.” Anecdotal information and data have suggested in Los Angeles the significant likelihood that the marijuana as medicine dispensaries affect crime in adjacent communities.

The authority of DEA to investigate those growing, selling, and possessing marijuana, irrespective of State law, was confirmed by recent rulings by the Supreme Court. In United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, the Supreme Court held that the Controlled Substances Act contains no exception permitting the distribution of marijuana on the basis of “medical necessity.” In Gonzales v. Raich, the Court stated that Congress’s Commerce Clause authority includes the power to prohibit the intrastate and noncommercial manufacture and possession of marijuana for claimed medical purposes pursuant to state law and concluded that, “Congress had a rational basis for believing that failure to regulate the intrastate manufacture and possession of marijuana would leave a gaping hole in the Controlled Substances Act.” These two cases made clear that Federal law prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, and possession of marijuana applies regardless of whether the person engaging in such activity claims to have a "medical necessity,” claims to be acting in accordance with state law, or claims to be acting in a wholly intrastate manner. Thus, DEA remains constitutionally obligated to enforce the Controlled Substances Act in all circumstances.

The DEA’s role is one of enforcement. It is, after all, our middle name. We will continue to enforce the law as it stands and to investigate, indict, and arrest those who use the color of state law to possess and sell marijuana.

Conclusion

The Drug Enforcement Administration is a single mission agency. Our role is to enforce the provisions of the Controlled Substances Act, which is considered by Congress to be in the best interests of the people of this nation. The DEA does not discriminate in the application of the law, nor does it interpret the law’s intent, a function left appropriately to the courts. The DEA applies the law to law breakers. Among other things, it does so through the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act to prevent the spread of the bill’s namesake drug, through the carefully application of its regulatory obligations or by investigating those who would use the color of state law to traffic in marijuana.

I thank you for the opportunity to testify here today, and would welcome any questions the Subcommittee might have.

The picture below is from a email I received. A Mexican drug kingpin was arrested and in his house were not only this stack of money below, but hidden walls were stuff full of money also. I have no idea how much money is in the stack. It does show that the illegal drug business is a money making machine. That is until you are caught.

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2007

Mexican Fugitive and Co-Conspirator Arrested on
U.S. Drug, Money Laundering Charges

JUL 24 -- WASHINGTON – The owner of a pharmaceutical wholesale business based in Mexico City and a co-conspirator have been arrested in the United States on drug and money laundering charges, respectively, for allegedly conspiring to aid and abet the manufacturing of methamphetamine, knowing that it would be imported into the United States, the Department of Justice announced today.

“With the arrest of Zhenli Ye Gon, we’ve apprehended not only the man behind the money, but the man behind the meth. He may never have touched the drugs, but he made it all possible, facilitating the massive meth trade by brokering chemicals to kingpins,” said DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy. “Ye Gon’s arrest demonstrates yet again the tremendous courage and commitment of Mexican law enforcement and the Calderón administration to destroy the meth trade.”

Agents and task force officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrested Zhenli Ye Gon in Wheaton, Md., on July 23, 2007. A criminal complaint charged Ye Gon with conspiracy to aid and abet the manufacture of 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, knowing that it would be imported into the United States. Ye Gon is scheduled to be presented before the U.S. Magistrate Court for the District of Columbia for his initial appearance later today. On March 15, 2007, Mexican law enforcement officials executed a search warrant on a residence of Ye Gon’s and discovered more than $205 million in U.S. currency.

Ye Gon owned and operated a pharmaceutical wholesale business based in Mexico City, Mexico . The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleges that from December 2005 until March 2007, Ye Gon conspired with methamphetamine manufacturers who imported methamphetamine into the United States by diverting precursor chemicals to those drug manufacturing and trafficking organizations.

Ye Gon’s alleged co-conspirator, Michelle Wong, was arrested in the Las Vegas area. Wong was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.

The complaint alleges that from December 2005 until March 2007, Wong conspired with and aided Ye Gon by knowingly laundering large amounts of drug proceeds, including U.S. currency. Wong is scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Nevada later today.

These matters will be prosecuted by attorneys assigned to the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS) of the Criminal Division. The investigation in this case was led by the DEA and Mexican law enforcement units. Ye Gon is a fugitive of the Mexican government stemming from charges brought against him in that country.

May 20, 2007

Leader of Norte Valle Colombian Drug Cartel Extradited To United States

JUL 20 -- WASHINGTON – Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante, also known as “Rasguno,” one of the leaders of the Norte Valle Colombian Drug Cartel, has been extradited from Colombia to the United States to face charges in the Eastern District of New York of running a continuing criminal enterprise and importing into the United States and distributing more than 150 kilograms of cocaine, the Department of Justice announced today.

Gomez-Bustamante also faces racketeering charges in a multi-district indictment pending in Washington, D.C., resulting from an investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, the Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section of the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Gomez-Bustamante arrived in New York last night, in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Unit aircraft, accompanied by special agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). His arraignment is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. today at the federal court in Central Islip , N.Y. , before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert of the Eastern District of New York.

Gomez-Bustamante had been a fugitive since Oct. 10, 2002, the date on which he was first indicted in the Eastern District of New York. Shortly after his indictment, the State Department offered an award of up to $5 million for information leading to Bustamante’s apprehension. On July 2, 2004, Cuban law enforcement officials detained Bustamante after he attempted to enter that country on a false Mexican passport. He remained in Cuban custody until Feb. 8, 2007, when he was deported from Cuba to his native Colombia. On July 13, 2007, the Colombian government granted the U.S. request to extradite Bustamante to face the charges filed against him in the Eastern District of New York and in Washington, D.C.

According to the indictments previously filed in the Eastern District of New York and the racketeering indictment filed in Washington, D.C. , Gomez-Bustamante worked with several Colombian drug transportation specialists and sent multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia and other locations in South America to the Valle del Cauca region. The cartel used trucks and airplanes to transport the cocaine to the Pacific Coast port city of Buenaventura, and from there, used Mexican transportation groups to ship the cocaine to Mexico via speed boats, fishing vessels, and other maritime conveyances, for ultimate delivery to the United States. The indictment alleges that, between 1990 and the present; the Norte Valle Cartel exported more than 1.2 million pounds – or 500 metric tons – of cocaine, worth in excess of $10 billion, from Colombia to the United States. The cartel members allegedly employed violence and brutality to further the organization’s goals, including the murder of rivals, individuals who failed to pay for cocaine and associates who were suspected to be working as informants for law enforcement. As alleged in Gomez-Bustamante’s indictment, the cartel members relied on the Auto defensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a terrorist paramilitary organization, to protect the cartel’s drug routes, its drug laboratories, and its members and associates. The AUC is one of 42 foreign terrorist organizations listed by the U.S. State Department.

Ten additional leaders and high-ranking members of the Norte Valle Cartel have been prosecuted in the Eastern District of New York in recent years, four of whom have been convicted on felony narcotics offenses and are awaiting sentence.

“Gomez-Bustamante’s extradition is a blow to the leaders of international drug cartels who once thought they could never face justice in the United States,” said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. “The cooperation of the Colombian government in extraditing alleged drug lords and the tireless work of U.S. prosecutors and federal agents in pursuing cases against them has helped in our efforts to target the Norte Valle and other cartels, and to cut off the flow of illegal drugs from Colombia to the United States.”

“Gomez-Bustamante is the ‘Pablo Escobar’ of his generation – a violent and ruthless drug trafficker whose organization flooded our streets with cocaine,” stated U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf of the Eastern District of New York. “The prosecution of the leaders of his cartel, culminating in the defendant’s extradition, has brought low one of the largest drug organizations in the world. This long-term investigation and resulting prosecutions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to bring international drug traffickers to justice.” Ms. Mauskopf thanked the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the El Dorado Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Colombian government for its assistance in this case.

“Gomez-Bustamante was a top member of an organization that controlled roughly 50 percent of the cocaine shipped to the United States in the 1990s and was responsible for countless murders and a reign of terror extending from Colombia to the United States,” said Julie Myers, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “ICE agents in the United States and our Attaché in Colombia worked hand-in-glove with Colombian law enforcement officials, our partners in the DEA and the Justice Department to bring Gomez to justice.”

“Global criminal organizations that flood American streets with deadly contraband spread violence in our neighborhoods and around the globe. They exploit U.S. financial systems to cleanse their dirty money and violate U.S. borders with their smuggling enterprises,” said New York ICE Special Agent-in-Charge Peter Smith. “This clearly represents a threat to America’s homeland and his arrest and extradition to the U.S. reflect a great triumph and extraordinary teamwork with our domestic and international law enforcement partners.”

Gomez-Bustamante’s arrest and extradition to the Eastern District of New York are the result of a lengthy investigation beginning in the mid-1990s that was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the El Dorado Task Force, an ICE-led anti-money laundering task force in New York City, ICE agents in Colombia, and Colombian law enforcement authorities, with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida also assisted in the investigation, and the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division helped facilitate the extradition of Gomez-Bustamante.

In the mid-1990s, the El Dorado Task Force began investigating storefront money remitter businesses in Queens, N.Y. Three of those transmitting businesses were owned by Juan Albeiro Monsalve, who was the cartel’s principal drug distributor in the New York area and was directly responsible for distributing thousands of kilograms of cocaine into New York City, laundering more than $70 million, and ordering multiple homicides. Monsalve pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to drug trafficking and murder, and on May 3, 2002, was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. The investigation of Monsalve and related cases revealed the structure of the Norte Valle Cartel and ultimately led to the indictment of Bustamante in the Eastern District of New York.

The charges announced today are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.