The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice that is tasked with enforcing the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. One facet of enforcement is ensuring that controlled substances are available for lawful medical and research use, yet preventing diversion for illegal sale and abuse. As part of its efforts, the DEA requires all businesses, health care professionals, and researchers handling controlled substances to register with the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control and receive a registration number. All registration numbers are maintained in the DEA’s Controlled Substances Act (CSA) Registrants Database. You can access the database in several ways, but not directly from the DEA.
Contact the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) to obtain information on subscription options to access the DEA's CSA database. NTIS is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce and is the authorized official distributor of the CSA database. The NTIS offers the CSA database as raw data in two forms (ASCII or EBCDIC) delivered on either a 3480 cartridge or CD-ROM. The data can also be downloaded from the NTIS website.
Log on to the website www.deanumber.com to obtain subscription information for accessing the CSA database via a searchable web application. This website is a joint venture between the NTIS and Global Internet Management Corp. The website is updated on a regular basis with registration information provided by the DEA.
Purchase a subscription from the NTIS for access to the CSA database. The NTIS website provides contact information for its Subscriptions Department that can be reached by phone (1-800-363-2068 or (703) 605-6060), mail (5301 Shawnee Rd., Alexandria, VA 22312) and email ([email protected]).
Tips
Although you can always request a particular person (e.g., doctor or pharmacist) or business (e.g., manufacturer or distributor) provide you with a valid DEA registration number, you cannot verify the number by accessing the CSA database without purchasing the information.
You can verify the validity of your own registration number directly with the Office of Diversion Control for no charge.
References
Tips
- Although you can always request a particular person (e.g., doctor or pharmacist) or business (e.g., manufacturer or distributor) provide you with a valid DEA registration number, you cannot verify the number by accessing the CSA database without purchasing the information.
- You can verify the validity of your own registration number directly with the Office of Diversion Control for no charge.
Writer Bio
Joe Stone is a freelance writer in California who has been writing professionally since 2005. His articles have been published on LIVESTRONG.COM, SFgate.com and Chron.com. He also has experience in background investigations and spent almost two decades in legal practice. Stone received his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from California State University, Los Angeles.