DEA sends controlled substance e-prescribing rules to DoJ

Executive Summary

Proposed set of rules for the e-prescribing of controlled substances has been forwarded to the Department of Justice for review, Joseph Rannazzisi, deputy assistant administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Diversion Control, says in a Feb. 1 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Rannazzisi is "unable to accurately predict how long the DoJ review will last" and offers no details on the substance of the proposal. The letter responds to a query from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who criticized DEA's lack of action on issuing a controlled substance e-prescribing rule as an impediment to widespread adoption of e-prescribing during a Dec. 2007 hearing (1"The Pink Sheet" Dec. 10, 2007, p. 22). Whitehouse in a statement says the news is encouraging but the issue is "far from settled"...