DEA Announces Operation CYBERx

On September 21, 2005, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced the culmination of Operation CYBERx, a multi-agency investigation targeting U.S.-based online pharmacies allegedly selling precription drugs without valid prescriptions. Part of DEA’s new “Virtual Enforcement Initiative (VEI)”, the operation resulted in the arrests of 18 people and the seizure of cash and property. It seems likely that DEA will launch further VEI investigations against Web-based “e-traffickers” who are “luring our nations [sic] youth to their on-line pharmacies for easy access to drugs.”