Question: what is the only major drug that is available as a natural, harvested product? If you said marijuana, you'd be right. All other drugs have to be produced or manufactured, according to the DEA's Diversion Control Program. So when chemicals are being shipped to companies that want to turn them into legitimate medicines, the DEA makes sure they actually get there and not...diverted...along the way.

And in an effort to provide transparency, the DEA Website posts the applications when pharmacies or people register to receive shipments of controlled substances. The site also shows if their applications are approved. Sorry, Lyle E. Craker, Ph.D.! His application to become a bulk manufacturer of marijuana was denied. Craker has since filed an appeal, which will be considered later this spring.

And earlier this month, the government denied an application filed by Ladapo O. Shyngle , M.D. of Tampa, Florida, saying his request would go against the public interest. It seems that the DEA had already issued an order alleging that Shyngle had been issuing prescriptions to customers of an Internet pharmacy just through an online questionnaire or phone interviews. Here's the DEA's description of what Shyngle was up to:

"In 2002, Respondent was hired by Kenneth Shobola, the owner of a Tampa, Florida medical clinic (the Kenaday Medical Clinic), to perform consultations on persons who were seeking prescriptions for controlled substances through Shobola's Web sites. While Respondent saw some walk- in patients at the clinic, in an interview with DEA Investigators, he admitted that he saw only about five percent of the persons he prescribed to, and that his contact with most of the patients was limited to a telephone consultation which lasted five to ten minutes....Respondent would perform up to twenty consultations a day for Shobola's clinic. According to computer records obtained by Investigators, Respondent issued over 3800 prescriptions which were filled by Shobola's pharmacy."

- Kristina Peterson