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, https://wyomedboard.wyo.gov/​consumers/​license-lookup (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.

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. § 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]

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 .