If a DEA Drug Diversion Agent asks you to sign a waiver or release, just say “no.”

If you possess a DEA Registration to prescribe, possess, or dispense controlled substances, you may one day be approached by a DEA Drug Diversion Investigator requesting an interview and asking you to sign a release or waiver of your right to remain silent. Just say “no.”

As my late friend Glen Crick has written,

“if you are told, ‘You have the right to remain silent,’ then remain silent. This warning is only given to someone who is the subject of a criminal investigation. If an investigator tells you that you have the right to remain silent, there is no guesswork involved. You are the subject of a criminal investigation, and there is nothing to be gained, and much to be lost, by talking to an investigator without legal counsel present.”

Two examples of what can go wrong

In one case, a senior physician was duped into writing prescriptions to young, drug seeking “patients.” His clinical assessments and charting were both good, and the drugs prescribed were appropriate and in therapeutic doses. The trouble arose, however, not from his charting, but from the statements he made during his voluntary interview with the Drug Diversion Investigator – he made the big mistake of signing a written release of his rights, and he then sat for an interview. Unfortunately, the mistakes he made during that interview hurt him, and he later pled to one “small count” (small by drug diversion standards) resulting in a sentence of probation, the surrender of his DEA Registration, and the closure of his practice. It was my opinion, however, that without the statements he made during his voluntary interview, his case was entirely defensible.

In another case, a physician made the same mistake of signing a written release of her rights, and she then sat for an interview with two Drug Diversion Investigators without legal counsel present. Before that interview was over, she was further persuaded to surrender her DEA Registration. This physician never faced allegations of criminal wrong doing, but she incurred much legal expense and trouble in an attempt to restore her Registration and medical practice. Although this case was never fully developed, it was my opinion based upon what was known, and what has been learned since, that this physician would not have lost her DEA Registration and there was no reason to surrender it to the DEA investigators in the first place.

What you need to know

In both the of the examples above, the physicians released their rights and agreed to be interviewed by Drug Diversion Investigators. It was my opinion that both cases were fully defensible. The lesson to be learned is that if a DEA Drug Diversion Investigator wants to interview you and asks you to sign a release or waiver of your right to remain silent, don’t do it. Just say “no.” If you are told, “You have the right to remain silent,” then remain silent. Decline all interviews until you have consulted with a lawyer familiar with prescribing issues under state and federal law. Whatever you do, don’t go it alone.