Any health care provider, including physicians, optometrists, dentists, veterinarians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, receives a DEA number from the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
It permits these physicians to issue prescriptions for illegal substances while also allowing the DEA to keep track of who is prescribing what.
The Creation of the DEA
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was founded in 1973 as part of President Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs campaign. Prior to the DEA, drug-related crimes were investigated and prosecuted by a variety of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The DEA was created to bring their efforts together and provide a single point of contact for investigation and prosecution.
Who needs a DEA number and when?
Anyone planning to prescribe legal controlled substances in the United States must register with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). After that, the DEA provides them a number that they must put on their controlled narcotic prescriptions.
A DEA number is primarily used by the DEA to track prohibited narcotic transactions. As a result, DEA numbers are assigned not just to health care practitioners who can prescribe medicines (such as doctors and nurse practitioners), but also to anyone or any company involved in the supply chain.
Any substance listed as Schedule II-V under the Controlled Substances Act requires a DEA number. Schedule I drugs (such as heroin and marijuana) are federally prohibited and have no recognised medicinal purpose.
Every year, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) updates the list of restricted substances and their schedule classifications.
The following are some instances of regulated prescription drugs:
- Morphine
- Oxycodone
- Hydrocodone
- Codeine
- Valium
- Xanax
- Cough medicines containing codeine and pregabalin (Lyrica)
DEA Number Lookup
It’s fairly easy to look for a DEA number. You can also look it up by NPI. The term NPI stands for National Provider Identifier. It is a variety that is distributed to any health care provider and organization. It can be used by the federal government to track medical service providers. Any individual, business, or pharmacy that handles medical billing is obliged by law to have an NPI.
95% of all prescriber DEA numbers are matched to their individual NPI numbers on websites like www.dealookup.com. If you have the licence number and just need to double-check it, you can call the DEA and inquire about it.