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Memorandum To: Pharmacist-in-charge This is an updated memorandum with more clarification. Please find enclosed an interim policy statement issued by the DEA on November 16, 2004 which clarifies a misstatements made in an August 2004 FAQ published on its Office of Diversion Control website. The clarification states: “No prescription for a controlled substance in Schedule II may be refilled.” 21 U.S.C. 829(a). “For a physician to prepare multiple prescriptions on the same day with instructions to fill on different dates is tantamount to writing a prescription authorizing refills of a Schedule II controlled substance. To do so conflicts with one of the fundamental purposes of section 829(a).” Therefore, according to DEA officials prescribers may no longer write multiple Schedule II prescriptions on the same day with instructions to fill at a later date and dispensers may no longer accept such prescriptions. If a patient presents multiple scripts dated the same day, then the pharmacist would have the knowledge that this has been done and should inform the patient they cannot fill the subsequent scripts and the patient needs to contact their doctor to reissue a new script at a later date. If only one prescription is presented with a notation that it should not be filled until a later date and that is within 90 days of the date issued, then a pharmacist may fill the prescription. This “clarification” by the DEA will actually cause a lot of confusion until prescribers are aware of the limitations. It will also create a hardship for some patients for whom such a mechanism of prescribing served their legitimate needs and posed no risk of diversion or abuse. The information is being sent to the licensing boards of the prescribers so they can inform their licensees. Please inform all of your staff regarding this new interpretation of existing law. Although this is a federal regulation, it will be enforced by both federal and state enforcement personnel. cc: West Virginia Board of Medicine |