On January 3, 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued their next Aggregate Production Quotas for Schedule I and II Controlled Substances. In essence, they followed their standard procedure.
Standard procedure: The government publishes a Proposed Aggregate Production Quotas for Schedule I and II Controlled Substances and Assessment of Annual Needs every fall, in October or November. They invite anyone interested to comment or object to the proposed APQ and the proposed ANN before December.
For the 2024 Quota, there were 4,699 comments from:
- DEA registrants,
- people with chronic pain,
- patients with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
- pain advocacy associations,
- S. professional associations,
- S. nurses,
- the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists,
- the Australian ADHD Professionals Association,
- the ADHD Foundation Australia,
- and others
Comments included
- concerns about potential domestic opioid drug shortages due to further quota reductions;
- stimulant drug shortages in the United States and Australia;
- concerns that medical professionals might be impeded from exercising their medical expertise regarding opioid prescriptions;
- two requests for a public hearing;
- concerns with the implementation of quarterly quota allotments
DEA Responses
| Issue | DEA Response |
| Medication Out of Stock at Pharmacy | DEA is committed to ensure an adequate and uninterrupted supply to meet legitimate medical, scientific, and export needs. So this isn’t the DEA’s fault or the fault of the Production Quota. They recommend transferring your prescription to a different pharmacy (which raises your Narx Score) |
| Nationwide shortages | Not the fault of the quota. |
| Patient resorting to street drugs | DEA’s quota helps prevent diversion, therefore reducing overdoses. Patients should switch to other drugs (non-controlled) |
| Prescribing hesitancy | DEA has no restrictions on what a doctor can prescribe. |
| Shortages of ADHD Medications | DEA is committed to ensuring an adequate and uninterrupted supply of controlled substances to meet legitimate medical, scientific, research, and industrial needs. |
| Data Accuracy | The FDA uses a variety of data sources to estimate domestic medical needs. The DEA actively reevaluates the process to insure the APQs are at an adequate level to meet legitimate medical, scientific, research, and export needs while establishing and maintaining reserve stocks. |
So basically, the DEA makes two responses—they either aren’t responsible for the problem, or what they are doing is the answer to the problem. Naturally we, as those harmed by these policies, know different.
The complete document with more responses to comments can be seen here:
But the basic standard procedure throughout the years this has been done since 2013, is that the comments do nothing. The proposed cuts in controlled substances is maintained. So here is a breakdown on the opioids that affect pain patients:
If you have had a problem getting your meds filled in the past, and there has been a further production reduction, it will be harder in the future. But it seems that people—even those affected—don’t care to do what is necessary to stop this atrocity. So the suffering will continue.
I will be writing a couple more posts on the reductions of opioids since 2013. Stay tuned.
Linda Cheek is a teacher and disenfranchised medical doctor, turned activist, author, and speaker. A victim of prosecutorial misconduct and outright law-breaking of the government agencies DEA, DHHS, and DOJ, she hopes to be a part of exonerating all doctors illegally attacked through the Controlled Substance Act. She holds the key to success, as she can offset the government propaganda that drugs cause addiction with the truth: The REAL Cause of Drug Abuse.
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I’ve been a Chronic pain patient now for 24 years, I live in horrible pain everyday. I have RSD/CRPS ,DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE ALONG WITH SOME OTHER ONE’S. I had my medication cut back a few years back and I live my life in bed ,I have no life if I don’t have what medication I have now I might as well not even be alive anymore the pain would be unbearable for one thing and it would take everything just to get out of bed to go to the bathroom forget cooking any meals. Please this has to stop we are not the problem we take our medication properly we don’t get High on it ,it goes to our pain. If I didn’t have to take it I wouldn’t believe me
Please Help All US Chronic Pain People
I’m doing the best that I can. But if pain patients, their contacts, and doctors, don’t learn what I teach–the real cause of drug abuse, and they keep believing and spreading the propaganda, the situation is only going to get worse. And I only had 4 people sign up this time for my ecourse. Folks, it takes time to get laws changed. Don’t think, that when opioids are taken completely away, that you will suddenly be able to get on board and change will happen. People need to get with it now, not wait. But apathy is what is wrong with the world today.