Important Change Regarding Buprenorphine Use

Recent Change to DEA Registration Requirements Regarding Use of Buprenorphine for Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

On December 29, 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration DATA-Waiver registration was eliminated. All licensees should be aware of the following:

A DATA-Waiver registration ("X-Waiver") is no longer required to treat patients with buprenorphine for opioid use disorder.

Going forward, all prescriptions for buprenorphine only require a standard DEA registration number. The previously used DATA-Waiver registration numbers are no longer needed for any prescription.

There are no longer any limits on the number of patients a prescriber may treat for opioid use disorder with buprenorphine.

Currently, certain provisions of joint Board rules Chapter 12 Joint Rule Regarding Office Based Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder and Chapter 21 Use of Controlled Substances for Treatment of Pain are in conflict with these changes to the DEA registration requirements. Consequently, the Board will not investigate alleged violations associated with the DEA registration requirement changes retroactive to December 29, 2022.

Furthermore, the Board will initiate joint rulemaking regarding Chapter 12 and Chapter 21 to make them consistent with the changes to the DEA registration requirements