Notice2024-31317
Jason Lee Ray, PA-C; Decision and Order
Primary source
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Published
December 30, 2024
Issuing agencies
Justice DepartmentDrug Enforcement Administration
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 249 (Monday, December 30, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 249 (Monday, December 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 106587-106588]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-31317]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration
[Docket No. 24-67]
Jason Lee Ray, PA-C; Decision and Order
On August 22, 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA or
Government) issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) to Jason Lee Ray, PA-C,
of Marbleton, Wyoming (Respondent). OSC, at 1, 4. The OSC proposed the
revocation of Respondent's DEA Certificate of Registration No.
MR4038293, alleging that Respondent's DEA registration should be
revoked because Respondent is ``without authority to prescribe,
administer, dispense, or otherwise handle controlled substances in the
State of Wyoming, the state in which [he is] registered with DEA.'' Id.
at 2 (citing 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).
On September 4, 2024, Respondent requested a hearing and filed an
Answer. On September 11, 2024, the Government filed a Motion for
Summary Disposition, to which Respondent did not respond. On September
20, 2024, Administrative Law Judge Paul E. Soeffing (the ALJ) granted
the Government's Motion for Summary Disposition and recommended the
revocation of Respondent's registration, finding that because
Respondent lacks state authority to handle controlled substances in
Wyoming, the state in which he is registered with DEA, ``there is no
other fact of consequence for th[e] tribunal to decide.'' Order
Granting the Government's Motion for Summary Disposition, and
Recommended Rulings, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Decision
of the Administrative Law Judge (RD), at 5-6. Respondent did not file
exceptions to the RD.
Having reviewed the entire record, the Agency adopts and hereby
incorporates by reference the entirety of the ALJ's rulings, findings
of fact, conclusions of law, and recommended sanction as found in the
RD and summarizes and expands upon portions thereof herein.
Findings of Fact
On February 15, 2024, the Wyoming Board of Medicine suspended
Respondent's Wyoming physician assistant license. RD, at 3.\1\
According to Wyoming online records, of which the Agency takes official
notice, Respondent's Wyoming physician assistant license remains
suspended.\2\ Wyoming Board of Medicine, Physician and PA License
Lookup, <a href="https://wyomedboard.wyo.gov/consumers/license-lookup">https://wyomedboard.wyo.gov/consumers/license-lookup</a> (last
visited date of signature of this Order). Accordingly, the Agency finds
that Respondent is not currently licensed to practice as a physician
assistant in Wyoming, the state in which he is registered with DEA.
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\1\ See also Government's Submission of Evidence and Motion for
Summary Disposition (Motion for Summary Disposition), Exhibit 2,
Attachment C, at 11. The Agency notes that there is some
inconsistency regarding the naming of the attachments included with
the Government's Exhibit 2 (the submitted Declaration from a DEA
Diversion Investigator) when comparing how the attachments are named
in the Declaration versus the Motion for Summary Disposition itself;
however, this inconsistency does not appear to be substantive.
\2\ 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, Respondent 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 Office of the Administrator, Drug
Enforcement Administration at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#37535256195653535819564343584559524e447753525619505841"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a1c5c4c08fc0c5c5ce8fc0d5d5ced3cfc4d8d2e1c5c4c08fc6ced7">[email protected]</span></a>.
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Discussion
Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3), the Attorney General is authorized
to suspend or revoke a registration issued under section 823 of the
Controlled Substances Act (CSA) ``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).\3\
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\3\ 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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Under Wyoming law, ``dispense'' means ``to deliver a controlled
substance to an ultimate user 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.'' Wyo. Stat. Ann. section 35-7-
1002(a)(vii) (2024). Further, a ``practitioner'' includes ``[a]
physician . . . or other person licensed, registered or otherwise
permitted to distribute, dispense, conduct research with respect to or
administer a controlled substance in the course of professional
practice or research in th[e] state.'' Id. section 35-7-1002(a)(xx)(A).
Here, the undisputed evidence in the record is that Respondent
currently lacks authority to practice as a physician assistant in
Wyoming. As discussed above, a physician assistant must be a licensed
practitioner to dispense controlled substances in Wyoming. Thus,
because Respondent currently lacks authority to practice as a physician
assistant in Wyoming and, therefore, is not currently authorized to
handle controlled substances in Wyoming, Respondent is not eligible to
maintain a DEA registration. RD, at 4-6. Accordingly, the Agency will
order that Respondent'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.
MR4038293 issued to Jason Lee Ray, PA-C. 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 Jason Lee Ray, PA-C, to renew
or modify this registration, as well as any other pending application
of Jason Lee Ray, PA-C, for additional registration in Wyoming. This
Order is effective January 29, 2025.
Signing Authority
This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on
December 20, 2024, by Administrator Anne Milgram. 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. 2024-31317 Filed 12-27-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-09-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 30, 2024.
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