On June 3, 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration (hereinafter, DEA or Government), issued an Order to Show Cause (hereinafter, OSC) to Gerald M. Baltz, N.P. (hereinafter, Respondent). OSC, at 1, 3. The OSC proposed the revocation of Respondent's Certificate of Registration No. MB2171128 at the registered address of 8060 Melrose Ave., Ste. 200, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Id. at 1. The OSC alleged that Respondent's registration should be revoked because Respondent is “without authority to handle controlled substances in the State of California, the state in which [he is] registered with DEA.” Id. at 1-2 (citing 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).^[1]

By letter dated July 11, 2022,^[2] Respondent requested a hearing. On July 12, 2022, Administrative Law Judge Paul E. Soeffing (hereinafter, the ALJ) issued an Order for Evidence of Lack of State Authority and Directing the Government to File Evidence Regarding the Service of the Order to Show Cause (hereinafter, Briefing Order). On July 26, 2022, the Government filed its Submission of Evidence and Motion for Summary Disposition (hereinafter, Motion for Summary Disposition). On August 10, 2022,^[3] Respondent filed his Opposition to Government's Motion for Summary Disposition (hereinafter, Opposition).^[4]

On August 25, 2022, the ALJ granted the Government's Motion for Summary Disposition and recommended the revocation of Respondent's DEA registration, finding that because Respondent lacks authority to handle controlled substances in California, there is no genuine issue of material fact. Recommended Decision, at 6.^[5]

The Agency issues this Decision and Order based on the entire record before it, 21 CFR 1301.43(e), and makes the following findings of fact.

Findings of Fact

On November 19, 2021, an Administrative Law Judge from the State of California, Office of Administrative Hearings, issued a Proposed Decision revoking Respondent's California nursing licenses. Government Exhibit (hereinafter, GX) C, at 45. On January 21, 2022, the State of California, Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of Registered Nursing (hereinafter, the Board), issued a Decision and Order adopting the Administrative Law Judge's Proposed Decision, effective February 18, 2022. Id. at 1. On February 24, 2022, the Board issued an Order Denying Reconsideration in which Respondent's request for reconsideration of the Proposed Decision was denied and the Board's January 21, 2022 Decision and Order was made effective February 28, 2022. GX B.

According to California's online records, of which the Agency takes official notice, Respondent's nursing licenses are revoked.^[6] California DCA ( printed page 67500) License Search, https://search.dca.ca.gov (last visited date of signature of this Order). Accordingly, the Agency finds that Respondent is not licensed to engage in the practice of nursing in California, the state in which he is registered with the DEA.^[7]

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 “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, the 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. See, e.g., James L. Hooper, M.D.,76 FR 71,371 (2011), pet. for rev. denied, 481 F. App'x 826 (4th Cir. 2012); Frederick Marsh Blanton, M.D.,43 FR 27,616, 27,617 (1978).^[8]

According to California 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, furnishing, packaging, labeling, or compounding necessary to prepare the substance for that delivery.” Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11010 (West 2022). Further, a “practitioner” means a 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 this state.” Id. at § 11026(c).

Here, the undisputed evidence in the record is that Respondent lacks authority to practice nursing in California. As discussed above, an individual must be a licensed practitioner to dispense a controlled substance in California. Thus, because Respondent lacks authority to practice nursing in California and, therefore, is not authorized to handle controlled substances in California, Respondent is not eligible to maintain a DEA registration. 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. MB2171128 issued to Gerald M. Baltz, N.P. Further, pursuant to 28 CFR 0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 823(f), I hereby deny any pending applications of Gerald M. Baltz, N.P., to renew or modify this registration, as well as any other pending application of Gerald M. Baltz, N.P., for additional registration in California. This Order is effective December 8, 2022.

Signing Authority

This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on November 1, 2022, 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 .