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By ALLISON BATDORFF
Gazette Wyoming Bureau

CODY - The Drug Enforcement Administration is a "two sided house," according to 20-year DEA agent Bill Weinman.

On the enforcement side, DEA works to keep drugs out of the wrong hands. On the diversion side, DEA oversees the bulk manufacture of several of the same drugs. This month, Cody Laboratories Inc. received DEA renewal to manufacture 14 Schedule II drugs, including several prescription painkillers as well as cocaine and methamphetamine.

Even cocaine and meth can have medicinal uses, said Weinman.


"Cocaine is used as a local anesthetic in eye and nose surgeries," Weinman said. "Amphetamines are prescribed for attention deficit disorder, diet pills and narcolepsy."

The DEA rates drugs according to schedules. The scale begins at Schedule I, with drugs that are highly dangerous and have no medicinal value, such as heroin and LSD. It slides down to Schedule V drugs commonly found in over-the-counter medications.

Schedule II drugs are highly addictive drugs but are permitted by prescription for their medicinal values.

Being a Schedule II manufacturer comes with a whole host of security responsibilities, Weinman said. A Schedule II facility may require keeping the drugs contained in cages with a certain gauge steel. Schedule II requires vaults, video surveillance and a "long litany" of other safeguards, Weinman said. The DEA investigates each facility and tests the company's physical security systems, verifies the company's compliance with state and local laws and reviews the company's background and history.

Cody Laboratories is the only Schedule II facility in Wyoming. Colorado has five, there are two in Utah and Montana has none.

Cody Laboratories has grown quickly. Since applying for a pharmaceutical license in 2000, the business has moved from a 5,600-square-foot facility to the old Wal-Mart building with a spacious 65,000 square feet.

The business has 24 employees. At an open house this past summer, owner Ric Asherman attributed the company's growth to the quality of its products, which are the generic equivalents of active ingredients in many painkillers. Asherman declined to comment for this article.

The DEA's one-year permit was granted Feb. 11 and lists 14 controlled substances. The DEA received no objections to the request.

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