GAO Assesses DEA Prescription Drug Control Efforts
The GAO has issued a report entitled "Prescription Drug Control: DEA Has Enhanced Efforts to Combat Diversion, but Could Better Assess and Report Program Results." The GAO notes that the DEA has expanded resources and targeted investigation strategies to collaborate with state and local entities and enhance the effectiveness of its drug diversion investigations. Among other things, the GAO highlights the expansion of the DEA’s use of Tactical Diversion Squads to investigate criminal diversion, which has enabled the DEA to more than triple its number of regulatory investigations between FYs 2009 and 2010. While DEA has taken steps to ensure that investigators follow policies and procedures for such investigations, the GAO believes it could better assess how its efforts are reducing the diversion of prescription drugs. The GAO therefore recommends that DEA reassess the program’s performance measures to better link them to the goal of reducing diversion.
