President Trump on Friday nominated Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy as the nation’s “drug czar,” months after he had officially withdrawn from consideration.

Marino, an attorney who has served in the House of Representatives since 2011, has a lengthy track record of supporting enforcement-side drug policy as well as improved drug treatment.

Marino is a longtime supporter of Trump, who at one point dubbed him and Rep. Lou Barletta — another Pennsylvania Republican who endorsed Trump early in his run — “Thunder and Lightning.” Both later served on the president’s transition team.

Marino was rumored to be a candidate to help ONDCP throughout the spring, but cited his mother’s health when he took himself out of the running.

https://www.statnews.com/2017/09/02/tom-czar-drug-czar/

Some past controversies resurfaced when his name was floated for the new job.

When PennLive asked Marino for comment, he only said, "I have chosen not to respond to the critics."

U.S. News & World Report on Wednesday was first to report that President Donald Trump was no longer considering Marino for the drug czar position.

Later that morning, Marino issued a statement, claiming he took himself out of the running because of his mother's failing health.

"Due to a critical illness in my family, I have, with regret and the utmost respect, informed the White House that I must withdraw my name from consideration for Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"I thank the president for the enormous honor of considering me for this lead role in the effort to address one of the most pressing issues facing our nation and my state today: the opioid epidemic. 

"I will remain in Congress and continue to support President Trump in whatever way I can."

But political pundits have questioned on air whether his past was a problem.

In recent weeks, the public was reminded that Marino resigned as a U.S. attorney after The Associated Press in 2006 reported he served as a reference for Louis DeNaples, a convicted felon Marino's office was investigating.

DeNaples is a northeast Pennsylvania business magnate whose career has been pockmarked by a no contest plea to fraud in the 1970s, ties to the Bufalino crime family and perjury charges a decade ago related to interviews with state gaming regulators.

After Marino resigned as a federal prosecutor, he collected a $250,000 salary working for DeNaples before winning a seat in Congress during the 2010 Tea Party wave, AP reported.

Another allegation from Marino's past that came up recently hinges on claims he shopped for judges in 1998 to help a friend by expunging a cocaine deal.

But most relevant to the drug czar position are the assertions that, as a congressman, he introduced legislation that made it easier for opioids to be distributed throughout the U.S. in the middle of an epidemic. Moreover, critics said the legislation was written by pharmaceutical lobbyists.

Some of those critics include former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials who tangled with Marino during court hearings.

At the center of the opposition was Joseph Rannazzisi, who led the DEA's office of Diversion Control until he was removed from his position and retired in 2015.

A year earlier, in summer 2014, the pharmaceutical industry beefed up its lobbying on Capitol Hill, according to The Washington Post.

Marino and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, introduced the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act - legislation the DEA and other critics said would compromise the agency's ability to hold drug distributors accountable.

Two Pennsylvania-distributors, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson, lobbied in favor of the legislation. They were joined by Ohio-based Cardinal Health and the Virginia-based Healthcare Distribution Alliance.

Collectively, they spent $13 million from 2014 to 2016 lobbying for Marino's bill, according to a previous Post report.

Rannazzisi opposed the bill from the beginning, claiming it would keep the DEA from stopping the flow of drugs into the wrong hands.

Despite numerous attempts, Rannazzisi could not be reached for an interview with PennLive.

However, he did share his position on Marino's bill with the Post.

"We won't be able to stop the hemorrhaging of these drugs out of these bad pharmacies and these bad corporations," Rannazzisi said during a July 2014 conference call, according to the Post. "What you're doing is filing a bill that will protect defendants in our cases."

Marino didn't like Rannazzisi's position on his legislation and said so on Sept. 18, 2014, during a congressional hearing with former DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, who was Rannazzisi's boss.

 "It is my understanding that Joe Rannazzisi, a senior DEA official, has publicly accused we sponsors of the bill of, quote, 'supporting criminals,' unquote," Marino said. "This offends me immensely."

Marino also said during the hearing that he was disappointed the Department of Justice, at Rannazzisi's urging, would not meet with pharmaceutical companies.

A week later Marino and Blackburn demanded an investigation into Rannazzisi's comments, claiming he tried to "intimidate" members of Congress.

Rannazzisi was replaced in August 2015 and retired two months later.

 "We had a situation where it was just out of control because of (Rannazzisi)," Marino told the Post. ". . . His only mission was to get big fines."

Marino's legislation passed last year.

The DEA now needs to show an "immediate" threat to the public, rather than an "imminent" threat to the public. That's "a nearly impossible burden to meet against distributors," former DEA supervisors told the Post.

"They said the new law gives the industry something it has desperately sought: protection from having its drugs locked up with little notice," the Post reported.