1. Did Congress delegate authority to the Attorney General to define what
constitutes an "effective prescription" or an "authorized" distribution of
narcotics under 21 U.S.C. § 841 of the Controlled Substances Act ("CSA")?

2. May a court uncritically defer to administrative regulations when defining
authorization for purposes of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)'s criminal prohibitions, or
must courts conduct an independent interpretation of the statute to ascertain
its meaning?

3. Does stepping outside of "generally accepted standards of practice" render a
prescription unauthorized under the CSA, even where it is issued for a
medical purpose?

4. Does 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)'s mens rea attach to the statutory requirement of
authorization, such that the government bears the burden of proving that a
defendant knew a given prescription was legally unauthorized, or does the
statute's mens rea attach to regulatory interpretations of 21 U.S.C. § 829's
prescription requirement?

Whether Congress delegated authority to the Attorney General to define 'effective prescription' under the Controlled Substances Act and what mens rea applies to prescription authorization