FedEx, UPS Say They Are Targets of DEA Probe Into Online Pharmacy Shipments
FedEx and UPS say they are targets of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation into online pharmacy shipments, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The DEA effort is aimed at cracking down on the country’s
prescription drug abuse epidemic, the article notes. The agency will not
confirm its involvement in the investigation, but both shipping
companies have disclosed the probe in corporate filings, according to
the newspaper.
Federal officials want the companies to take responsibility for the
prescription drugs inside the packages they are shipping, the article
states. FedEx spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald responded, “We are a
transportation company — we are not law enforcement, we are not doctors
and we are not pharmacists.” He added, “We have no interest in violating
the privacy of our customers by opening and inspecting their packages
in an attempt to determine the legality of the contents. We stand ready
and willing to support and assist law enforcement. We cannot, however,
do their jobs for them.”
Fitzgerald said FedEx asked the DEA to provide a list of online
pharmacies that are suspected of illegal activity, so it can stop doing
business with them. He said the agency has refused to provide a list.
UPS would not comment on the investigation, but stated in a corporate filing that it is cooperating with the probe.
Earlier this month, U.S. Representative John Mica of Florida sent a
letter to DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart and Attorney General Eric
Holder, asking them to recognize “the difficulty and unfairness of
requiring those carriers to assume responsibility for the legality and
validity of the contents of the millions of sealed packages that they
pick up and deliver every day.”
Mica told the newspaper, “You can’t stop commerce; you can’t open
every package. I’m only asking them [the DEA and Department of Justice]
for a reasonable approach.”
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