CHARLESTON – Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has moved to suspend a December lawsuit filed against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration after receiving a federal directive given to the DEA from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The lawsuit sought greater transparency and broader input in the process DEA uses to establish the limit on how many opioid pills can be manufactured each year.
“The era of unlimited supply must end,” Morrisey said. “We are losing too many neighbors, too many friends, too many sons and too many daughters to senseless death.”
Morrisey said the DEA’s quota system is fundamentally broken.
“For far too long, it served the industry’s wants, instead of the patients’ needs, inexcusably neglecting evidence of diversion to rely on a formula that continues to kill hundreds each day,” Morrisey said. “This must stop.”
Morrisey moved to suspend his lawsuit On March 1 upon receiving the federal directive, in which U.S. Sessions ordered DEA to evaluate and consider potential changes to the regulation.
Morrisey is hopeful the directive will take the necessary steps to account for diversion, increase input from specific stakeholders and establish mandatory hearings in setting the quota for specific drugs.
Morrisey believes the new process will require DEA to formally seek input from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and every state in the nation, which is a reversal from years of reckless oversight and abject failure.
Morrisey has repeatedly sought information on DEA’s quota process, including a denied Freedom of Information Act request in September 2015.
“I heartily applaud Attorney General Sessions for the major step he is taking and for his continued collaboration with our office to protect West Virginians from this deadly scourge of opioid excess,” Morrisey said. “I am also appreciative of President Trump’s dedication to addressing the opioid problem, as it represents such a stark departure from the past.”
Morrisey and the DEA twice agreed to extend deadlines related to the December lawsuit. Both extension requests acknowledged ongoing negotiations, the most recent of which noted progress toward a potential resolution.
Morrisey reserves the right to resume litigation depending upon the DEA’s progress in revising its regulation.
