Read this real quick and tell me that you don't think that if a Company can do this, a Religion should be allowed to do it. And not just your personal opinion, but by law according to the Free Exercise Clause, and cases like Burwell V Hobby Lobby, etc.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION
In the Matter of
JOHNSON MATTHEY, INC.
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Docket Number 99-27
MEMORANDUM OF THE ANTITRUST DIVISION OF THE UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AS AMICUS CURIAE IN SUPPORT
OF THE APPLICATION OF JOHNSON MATTHEY, INC.
Competition is a rough, often inelegant process by which winners and losers -- whether products, firms, or technologies -- are chosen by decisions made in the marketplace. In that process, economic actors are constantly challenged to improve on price, cost, and technology -- or exit. The end result is economic efficiency and increased technological innovation. Properly understood, the various challenges to the application of Johnson Matthey, Inc. ("Johnson Matthey") raised by Mallinckrodt, Inc. ("Mallinckrodt") and Noramco of Delaware, Inc. ("Noramco") rest on one ground: their fervid desire to avoid such competition and the challenges it would pose to them. Should their efforts to block Johnson Matthey's entry into the market succeed, the result will almost certainly be a less efficient and less innovative market and, ultimately, higher prices for consumers.
For that reason, assuming that the DEA can appropriately regulate Johnson Matthey's facilities to avoid illegal diversion, the Antitrust Division (the "Division") supports this application for registration.
(1) More importantly, the Division strongly recommends that the DEA avail itself of this opportunity to clarify yet again its commitment to competition by lowering the regulatory barriers to entry consistent with the need to prevent unlawful diversion. As discussed below, where a market cannot sustain numerous participants -- whether because of production requirements, economies of scale, or government regulation -- its competitiveness depends significantly on facilitating the potential for entry. By clearly articulating the appropriate standard to be used in these proceedings, and by placing the burden of proof where it properly belongs, the DEA will be able to discourage the continuing use of its procedures by those who seek to hinder the development of competition.
ISSUES
The Court framed the issues to be addressed in this proceeding in its October 20, 1999 Prehearing Ruling (ALJ Exh. 4, p.1):
- Whether the amounts of raw opium and poppy straw concentrate proposed to be imported by Johnson Matthey are necessary to provide for medical, scientific, or other legitimate purposes pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 952(a)(1); and
- Whether the application of Johnson Matthey for registration as an importer of Schedule II controlled substances raw opium and poppy straw concentrate is in the public interest as that term is defined in 21 U.S.C. §§ 958(a) and 823(a).