Senators Grill DEA Official on Tracking of Opioids

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee spent a good portion of a hearing on the opioid crisis grilling a senior Drug Enforcement Agency official on the agency’s tracking of opioids.

Tim McDermott, DEA’s assistant administrator for diversion control, fielded questions from Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and others on ARCOS, the agency’s automated drug reporting system which tracks the flow of controlled substances from drugmakers to pharmacies.

Sen. Durbin noted “it takes months” for the agency to get distribution information through ARCOS. McDermott acknowledged that the ARCOS data is reported quarterly and that the agency does not have the ability to track distribution in real time.