A small retail pharmacy in Peralta, New Mexico came under DEA scrutiny after on-site inspections by the agency's El Paso Division. According to the DEA, the pharmacy failed to account for 24,422 doses of controlled substances, the majority of which were opioid analgesics. Inspectors also documented 112 additional record-keeping violations and four dispensing violations. When the pharmacy later returned controlled substances to the DEA for disposal, it was unable to account for a further 1,231 doses of controlled substances and 15 doses of listed chemicals.
The pharmacy's owner voluntarily surrendered the pharmacy's DEA registration on March 12, 2019, and surrendered its New Mexico Board of Pharmacy controlled-substances registration two days later. A state Board of Pharmacy inspection that began in April 2019 found the pharmacy short on eight of the ten controlled substances the DEA had previously audited, including carisoprodol, clonazepam, diazepam, hydrocodone and oxycodone, according to local news reporting.
On July 12, 2022 the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico announced that the pharmacy had agreed to pay $50,000 in civil penalties under the Controlled Substances Act. The agreement settles civil claims only and does not constitute a finding of liability. Federal officials used the announcement to stress that pharmacies and other registrants must maintain accurate records to keep prescription medications from being misused.
Local reporting indicates the state Board of Pharmacy subsequently reached an agreement with the pharmacy, its owner and its pharmacist-in-charge, under which the owner agreed never again to own or operate a facility requiring Board of Pharmacy licensure, and the pharmacy shut down. Under New Mexico law, responsibility for a pharmacy's regulatory violations rests with the owner and the pharmacist in charge.