Colombian veterinarian who smuggled heroin in puppies arrestedMay 1, 2018Andres Lopez Elorza, the Venezuelan veterinarian who eluded authorities for 10 years and was arrested in 2015 for allegedly attempting to smuggle heroin from Colombia into the U.S. by "sewing" the drugs into puppies, was been extradited to New York from Spain. Elorza, 38, had worked at a clinic in Medellin, Colombia, where in 2005, authorities found 6.6 pounds of heroin implanted into six Labrador and Rottweiler puppies. The animals were rescued, but three died from infections from the implant surgery. In 2013, he was found in Spain and arrested, but was released due to complications of the extradition process and re-arrested by Spanish police in 2015 in the town of Santa Comba in La Coruna. Update: Elorza, part of a larger drug smuggling operation in Columbia, appeared in Brooklyn federal court last week. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail.
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DEA provides opioid shortage updateApril 16, 2018The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a statement last week on the ongoing opioid shortages affecting both human and veterinary medicine, resulting from issues at a drug manufacturing plant. "In order to prevent any pharmaceutical drug shortage that negatively impacts patients, DEA is working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, drug manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and hospital associations to ensure that patients have access to necessary hospital-administered pain medications," said the DEA in its statement. "These include certain injectable products that contain morphine, hydromorphone, meperidine, and fentanyl." "In recent months, the largest U.S. manufacturer of these injectable products has slowed production at one of their manufacturing facilities in order to perform necessary and required upgrades. As a result, this company voluntarily surrendered a portion of their quota allotment and DEA reallocated these amounts to three DEA-registered manufacturers of FDA approved injectable products in accordance with DEA regulations. "DEA is communicating actively and directly with all entities impacted and is committed to making further adjustments to individual procurement quotas as necessary and will also consider other measures that may be necessary to address potential shortages for these products." The shortage is expected to last into …
