The DEA has extended until April 1 the comment period for an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in which the agency sought information on ways other than incineration to destroy and dispose of controlled substances (89 Fed. Reg. 308).

The Oct. 31, 2023, ANPRM (88 Fed. Reg. 74379) requested stakeholder responses to 10 questions about the methods and technology currently being used or developed to dispose of controlled substances — specifically, to have the substances meet the non-retrievability standard of destruction set in a September 2014 final rule (79 Fed. Reg. 53520).

In the ANPRM, the DEA asked for commenters to identify destruction methods and technology currently being used or developed to render controlled substances non-retrievable. The agency posed 10 questions for commenters to answer for each method or technology that they identified.

The ANPRM set a Jan. 2, 2024, deadline for comments. Two requests received from stakeholders asked for an extension of the comment period “due to timeliness difficulties preparing adequate comments to the ANPRM during the holidays.”

The DEA reported that one of the commenters, an association, “stated that its member companies have a significant interest in this ANPRM and requested an extension to allow them to provide timely and informative comments.”

The new April 1, 2024, deadline for comments “allows sufficient time for persons to evaluate and consider all relevant information and respond accordingly,” according to the agency.

As in the October 2023 ANPRM, the DEA said that for submissions containing proprietary information, commenters should submit two copies of their comments: a version marked “Contains Confidential Information,” and a redacted version marked “To Be Publicly Posted,” which will be posted online.

As of Jan. 29, the DEA had received 32 comments on the ANPRM.

Comments may be submitted online (Docket No. DEA-1144).