Notice2025-04768
Hazem Barmada, M.D.; Decision and Order
Primary source
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Published
March 20, 2025
Issuing agencies
Justice DepartmentDrug Enforcement Administration
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 53 (Thursday, March 20, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 53 (Thursday, March 20, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13201-13202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04768]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration
Hazem Barmada, M.D.; Decision and Order
On February 2, 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA or
Government) issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) to Hazem Barmada, M.D.
of Ocean Springs, Mississippi (Registrant). Request for Final Agency
Action (RFAA), Exhibit (RFAAX) 1, at 1, 3. The OSC proposed the
revocation of Registrant's Certification of Registration No. BB4130162,
alleging that Registrant's registration should be
[[Page 13202]]
revoked because Registrant is ``currently without authority to handle
controlled substances in the State of Mississippi, 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 July 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 Agency makes the following findings of fact based on the
uncontroverted evidence submitted by the Government in its RFAA dated
April 4, 2024.\2\
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\2\ Based on the Declaration from a DEA Diversion Investigator,
the Agency finds that the Government's service of the OSC on
Registrant was adequate and rendered on February 23, 2022. RFAAX 2,
at 3. On April 7, 2022, Registrant requested additional time to
respond to the OSC, which Administrative Law Judge Teresa A.
Wallbaum (the ALJ) granted. RFAAX 3, at 1. On April 22, 2022,
Registrant sent an email regarding State medical board proceedings,
but did not mention or request a hearing regarding the OSC. Id. On
April 25, 2022, the ALJ issued an Order Terminating Proceedings due
to Registrant's failure to request a hearing. Id.
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Findings of Fact
On November 18, 2021, the Mississippi State Board of Medical
Licensure accepted Registrant's voluntary surrender of his Mississippi
medical license. RFAAX 4, at 1-2. According to Mississippi online
records, of which the Agency takes official notice, Registrant's
Mississippi medical license remains surrendered.\3\ Mississippi State
Board of Medical Licensure Licensee Lookup, <a href="https://gateway.msbml.ms.gov/verification/search.aspx">https://gateway.msbml.ms.gov/verification/search.aspx</a> (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 <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3a5e5f5b145b5e5e55145b4e4e5548545f43497a5e5f5b145d554c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aecacbcf80cfcacac180cfdadac1dcc0cbd7ddeecacbcf80c9c1d8">[email protected]</span></a>.
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Accordingly, the Agency finds that Registrant is not licensed to
practice medicine in Mississippi, 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 Mississippi statute, ``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.'' Miss. Code Ann.
section 41-29-105(j) (2024). Further, a ``practitioner'' means a person
``licensed, registered or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense,
conduct research with respect to or to administer a controlled
substance in the course of professional practice or research in this
state.'' Id. section 41-29-105(y)(i).
Here, the undisputed evidence in the record is that Registrant
currently lacks authority to practice medicine in Mississippi. As
discussed above, an individual must be a licensed practitioner to
dispense a controlled substance in Mississippi. Thus, because
Registrant lacks authority to practice medicine in Mississippi and,
therefore, is not authorized to handle controlled substances in
Mississippi, 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.
BB4130162, issued to Hazem Barmada, M.D. 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 Hazem Barmada, M.D., to renew
or modify this registration, as well as any other pending application
of Hazem Barmada, M.D., for additional registration in Mississippi.
This Order is effective April 21, 2025.
Signing Authority
This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on
March 13, 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. 2025-04768 Filed 3-19-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-09-P
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