Orrin Hatch: “over the weekend, the Washington Post ran an article about a piece of legislation I helped negotiate last Congress. It…”

“over the weekend, the Washington Post ran an article about a piece of legislation I helped negotiate last Congress. It was entitled the ``Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act'' and was intended to encourage greater collaboration between DEA and the regulated community in the fight against opioid abuse. The Post article was sharply critical of this legislation, suggesting that it effectively gutted DEA's ability to do its job. It also suggested the pharmaceutical industry put one over on Congress. I rise to set the record straight on these allegations and to provide a fuller account of how this legislation passed the Senate and became law. First, some background. The Controlled Substances Act requires drug distributors to obtain a ``registration'' from DEA in order to distribute controlled substances, including prescription drugs. The act further authorizes DEA to suspend a distributor's registration in certain circumstances, such as where a distributor has been convicted of a crime involving controlled substances or had a State license suspended. Before suspending a registration, DEA must issue a show cause order directing the distributor to explain why its registration should not be suspended. A court then decides whether DEA has met its burden to suspend the registration.…”