Cardinal Health Inc., one of the nation's largest distributors of pharmaceutical drugs, has agreed to settle allegations that it violated federal reporting provisions relating to its handling of certain controlled substances regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
Under the agreement between the company and seven U.S. Attorney's Offices, Cardinal Health agreed to pay $34,000,000 in civil penalties for alleged violations of its obligations under the Controlled Substances Act.
Cardinal Health, which operates 27 DEA-registered distribution facilities, failed to report to DEA suspicious orders of hydrocodone that it then distributed to pharmacies that filled illegitimate prescriptions originating from rogue Internet pharmacy Web sites. These prescriptions violated applicable Federal and State law because they were not issued for a legitimate medical purpose by physicians acting within the usual course of professional practice.
Cardinal's conduct allowed the "diversion" of millions of dosage units of hydrocodone from legitimate to non-legitimate channels. DEA regulations require all manufacturers and distributors to report suspicious orders of controlled substances and, more specifically, to "design and operate a system to disclose to the registrant suspicious orders of controlled substances." Registrants are required to inform DEA of suspicious orders upon discovery.
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Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He’s formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, a columnist for Examiner.com, a contributor to KGAB radio news, and news director for NewswithViews.com.
He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter’s University and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.
Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.
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