New Jersey News: Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000

July 1, 2006 3:25 pm

Reprinted from the July 2006 New Jersey Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.

The Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) grants a waiver to qualifying physicians (doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathy) allowing them to treat opioid-addiction with certain Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved Schedule III, IV, and V narcotics. Subutex® (buprenorphine hydrochloride) and Suboxone® (buprenorphine hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride dihydrate) were given an FDA-approved indication for the treatment of opioid addiction on October 8, 2002. To qualify for a waiver physicians must meet special requirements. Prior to dispensing these agents it is recommended that you consult the following Web site: www.suboxone.com/hcp/pharmacists/. Pharmacists receiving a prescription for Suboxone or another approved narcotic to treat opioid addiction should verify that the prescriber has been granted a waiver. The following can be used to verify that the prescriber is approved to prescribe Suboxone or Subutex for opioid addiction: 1) check the prescriber’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) number; physicians granted a waiver under DATA 2000 are issued a special DEA number that always begins with “X”; as of July 2005 physicians are required to include this special DEA number on all prescriptions for Suboxone or Subutex; 2) check the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) physician locator at: www.buprenorphine.samhsa.gov; 3) call SAMHSA at 1-866/287-2728 (physicians can elect not to be listed on the Web site); or 4) call the prescriber and ask to have the DEA registration certificate faxed to you. Please Note: Federal regulations require a greater degree of confidentiality regarding patient information pertaining to patients who are being treated for substance abuse; therefore, when verifying a prescriber’s waiver, it is a violation of federal regulations to disclose the identity of the patient for whom the prescription was written, even if you are speaking directly to the prescribing physician