DEA extends telemedicine for controlled substances until end of 2024

Abstract

Last week the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that it would extend exceptions that went into effect at the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic for telemedicine prescribing of buprenorphine. The exceptions, started in March 2020 (see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32664), allow for prescribing buprenorphine even in cases where there is no in‐person medical evaluation and were initially meant to limit the spread of the virus. Now, however, they are discussed as ways to limit the overdose crisis. The proposal applies, moreover, to all controlled substances, not just to buprenorphine.