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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 25 (Friday, February 7, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9169-9170]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02341]

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration

James T. Craig, D.D.S.; Decision and Order

    On May 24, 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA or 
Government) issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) to James T. Craig, 
D.D.S., of Aurora, Colorado (Registrant). Request for Final Agency 
Action (RFAA), Exhibit (RFAAX) 2, at 1, 3. The OSC proposed the 
revocation of Registrant's Certificate of Registration No. FC0032348, 
alleging that Registrant's registration should be revoked because 
Registrant is ``currently without authority to prescribe, administer, 
dispense, or otherwise handle controlled substances in Colorado, the 
state in which [he is] registered with DEA.'' Id. at 2 (citing 21 
U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).\1\
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    \1\ According to Agency records, Registrant's registration 
expired on August 31, 2024. The fact that a registrant allows his 
registration to expire during the pendency of an OSC does not impact 
the Agency's jurisdiction or prerogative under the Controlled 
Substances Act (CSA) to adjudicate the OSC to finality. Jeffrey D. 
Olsen, M.D., 84 FR 68474, 68476-79 (2019).
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    The OSC notified Registrant of his right to file a written request 
for hearing, and that if he failed to file such a request, he would be 
deemed to have waived his right to a hearing and be in default. Id. at 
2 (citing 21 CFR 1301.43). Here, Registrant did not request a hearing. 
RFAA, at 2.\2\ ``A default, unless excused, shall be deemed to 
constitute a waiver of the registrant's/applicant's right to a hearing 
and an admission of the factual allegations of the [OSC].'' 21 CFR 
1301.43(e).
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    \2\ Based on the Government's submissions in its RFAA dated July 
18, 2024, the Agency finds that service of the OSC on Registrant was 
adequate. Specifically, the included Declaration from a DEA 
Diversion Investigator (DI) indicates that on May 26, 2023, 
Registrant was personally served a copy of the OSC at the Arapahoe 
County Detention Center in Centennial, Colorado, where Registrant 
remained incarcerated. RFAAX 3, at 2.
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    Further, ``[i]n the event that a registrant . . . is deemed to be 
in default . . . DEA may then file a request for final agency action 
with the Administrator, along with a record to support its request. In 
such circumstances, the Administrator may enter a default final order 
pursuant to [21 CFR] Sec.  1316.67.'' Id. Sec.  1301.43(f)(1). Here, 
the Government has requested final agency action based on Registrant's 
default pursuant to 21 CFR 1301.43(c), (f), 1301.46. RFAA, at 3; see 
also 21 CFR 1316.67.

Findings of Fact

    The Agency finds that, in light of Registrant's default, the 
factual allegations in the OSC are admitted. According to the OSC, on 
March 23, 2023, Registrant's Colorado dental license was suspended. 
RFAAX 2, at 1-2. According to Colorado online records, of which the 
Agency takes official notice, Registrant's Colorado dentist license is 
revoked.\3\ Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations License 
Search, https://apps2.colorado.gov/dora/licensing/lookup/licenselookup.aspx (last visited date of signature of this Order).
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    \3\ Under the Administrative Procedure Act, an agency ``may take 
official notice of facts at any stage in a proceeding--even in the 
final decision.'' United States Department of Justice, Attorney 
General's Manual on the Administrative Procedure Act 80 (1947) (Wm. 
W. Gaunt & Sons, Inc., Reprint 1979). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 556(e), 
``[w]hen an agency decision rests on official notice of a material 
fact not appearing in the evidence in the record, a party is 
entitled, on timely request, to an opportunity to show the 
contrary.'' Accordingly, Registrant may dispute the Agency's finding 
by filing a properly supported motion for reconsideration of 
findings of fact within fifteen calendar days of the date of this 
Order. Any such motion and response shall be filed and served by 
email to the other party and to the DEA Office of the Administrator, 
Drug Enforcement Administration at [email protected].
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    Accordingly, the Agency finds that Registrant is not licensed to 
practice as a dentist in Colorado, the state in which he is registered 
with DEA.

Discussion

    Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3), the Attorney General is authorized 
to suspend or revoke a registration issued under 21 U.S.C. 823 ``upon a 
finding that the registrant . . . has had his State license or 
registration suspended . . . [or] revoked . . . by competent State 
authority and is no longer authorized by State law to engage in the . . 
. dispensing of controlled substances.'' With respect to a 
practitioner, DEA has also long held that the possession of authority 
to dispense controlled substances under the laws of the state in which 
a practitioner engages in professional practice is a fundamental 
condition for obtaining and maintaining a practitioner's registration. 
Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243, 270 (2006) (``The Attorney General 
can register a physician to dispense controlled substances `if the 
applicant is authorized to dispense . . . controlled substances under 
the laws of the State in which he practices.' . . . The very definition 
of a `practitioner' eligible to prescribe includes physicians 
`licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted, by the United States or 
the jurisdiction in which he practices' to dispense controlled 
substances. Sec.  802(21).''). The Agency has applied these principles 
consistently. See, e.g., James L. Hooper, M.D., 76 FR 71371, 71372 
(2011), pet. for rev. denied, 481 F. App'x 826 (4th Cir. 2012); 
Frederick Marsh Blanton, M.D., 43 FR 27616, 27617 (1978).\4\
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    \4\ This rule derives from the text of two provisions of the 
CSA. First, Congress defined the term ``practitioner'' to mean ``a 
physician . . . or other person licensed, registered, or otherwise 
permitted, by . . . the jurisdiction in which he practices . . . , 
to distribute, dispense, . . . [or] administer . . . a controlled 
substance in the course of professional practice.'' 21 U.S.C. 
802(21). Second, in setting the requirements for obtaining a 
practitioner's registration, Congress directed that ``[t]he Attorney 
General shall register practitioners . . . if the applicant is 
authorized to dispense . . . controlled substances under the laws of 
the State in which he practices.'' 21 U.S.C. 823(g)(1). Because 
Congress has clearly mandated that a practitioner possess state 
authority in order to be deemed a practitioner under the CSA, DEA 
has held repeatedly that revocation of a practitioner's registration 
is the appropriate sanction whenever he is no longer authorized to 
dispense controlled substances under the laws of the state in which 
he practices. See, e.g., James L. Hooper, M.D., 76 FR 71371-72; 
Sheran Arden Yeates, M.D., 71 FR 39130, 39131 (2006); Dominick A. 
Ricci, M.D., 58 FR 51104, 51105 (1993); Bobby Watts, M.D., 53 FR 
11919, 11920 (1988); Frederick Marsh Blanton, M.D., 43 FR 27617.
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    According to Colorado statute, ``dispense'' means ``to deliver a 
controlled substance to an ultimate user,

[[Page 9170]]

patient, or research subject by or pursuant to the lawful order of a 
practitioner, including the prescribing, administering, packaging, 
labeling, or compounding necessary to prepare the substance for that 
delivery.'' Colo. Rev. Stat. section 18-18-102(9) (2024). Further, a 
``practitioner'' means a ``physician . . . or other person licensed, 
registered, or otherwise permitted, by this state, to distribute, 
dispense, conduct research with respect to, administer, or to use in 
teaching or chemical analysis, a controlled substance in the course of 
professional practice or research.'' Id. section 18-18-102(29).
    Here, the undisputed evidence in the record is that Registrant 
lacks authority to practice as a dentist in Colorado. As discussed 
above an individual must be a licensed practitioner to dispense a 
controlled substance in Colorado. Thus, because Registrant lacks 
authority to practice as a dentist in Colorado and, therefore, is not 
authorized to handle controlled substances in Colorado, Registrant is 
not eligible to maintain a DEA registration. Accordingly, the Agency 
will order that Registrant's DEA registration be revoked.

Order

    Pursuant to 28 CFR 0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21 
U.S.C. 824(a), I hereby revoke DEA Certificate of Registration No. 
FC0032348, issued to James T. Craig, D.D.S. Further, pursuant to 28 CFR 
0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 823(g)(1), I 
hereby deny any pending applications of James T. Craig, D.D.S., to 
renew or modify this registration, as well as any other pending 
application of James T. Craig, D.D.S., for additional registration in 
Colorado. This Order is effective March 10, 2025.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on 
January 31, 2025, by Acting Administrator Derek Maltz. That document 
with the original signature and date is maintained by DEA. For 
administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of 
the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DEA Federal 
Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the 
document in electronic format for publication, as an official document 
of DEA. This administrative process in no way alters the legal effect 
of this document upon publication in the Federal Register.

Heather Achbach,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Drug Enforcement Administration.
[FR Doc. 2025-02341 Filed 2-6-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-09-P
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