The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration "Prescription Series" Proposal: Continuing Concerns
To ensure that patients are not denied access to Schedule II opioid analgesics when needed for the relief of moderate to severe pain, controlled substances regulations must strike the right balance between the realms of medicine and law enforcement, and the unambiguous so that physicians and pharmacists can understand and adhere to them.1
The Drug Enforcement Administration
On September 6, 2006, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposed to amend the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to allow practitioners to issue multiple prescriptions for a Schedule II controlled substance, each issued on the same date and dispensed sequentially (a "prescription series") (Figure 1).2 The proposal follows a Solicitation of Comments about dispensing controlled substances for pain management.3 The DEA said it wanted to reassure healthcare professionals and patients that it was legal for practitioners to provide a prescription series to individual patients during a single office visit. Practitioners would be able to authorize up to a 90-day supply of a Schedule II medication in situations where he or she determined that a periodic review of treatment effectiveness was not required more frequently.