The Need To Control Prescription Drug Abuse

GAO discussed its report on prescription drug abuse. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has effectively acted on the report's recommendations, resulting in improved security and recordkeeping of drug inventories by manufacturers and distributors and reduced opportunities for diversion from the wholesale level. However, DEA recovers only a small portion of Federal costs for registering and controlling the manufacture, distribution, and dispensing of controlled substances. GAO believes that DEA efforts to control drug abuse will help but will not fully solve the problem.