Drug Enforcement Agency - DEA

Definition: The Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA, is a federal agency which monitors the distribution and consumption of narcotics in the United States. Every prescription for narcotics written in the US is tracked by the DEA and the information is stored in a central database. Therefore, each physician or practitioner must be registered with the DEA and have an active DEA registration number, which is included on each prescription. If illegal or unethical patterns are detected, such as an abnormally high number of prescriptions for one patient or from one physician, the DEA registration is suspended until the cause is investigated, at which time prescribing privileges are either reinstated or revoked depending on the outcome of the investigation.