Veterinarians exempt from new DEA education requirement

A new opioid-related training requirement for DEA-registered practitioners does not apply to veterinarians, despite appearing as a required checkbox on the DEA’s online registration application, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials. 

Veterinarians who are registering or renewing their DEA registration should simply check the box on the DEA application, in order to continue on in the registration process, the DEA has advised the AVMA.

The requirement—to complete a one-time, eight-hour training on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders—took effect June 27 and applies to all DEA-registered prescribers except veterinarians. Veterinarians were specifically exempted in the federal law that created the requirement, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.

However, because veterinarians and other medical professionals use the same DEA registration form, veterinarians registering or renewing their registration must check a box on the application that affirms they’ve “read and understood” the information about the training requirement, as shown here:

If you have questions, email the grdavma [dot] org (AVMA’s governmental relations team).