How to Determine a Valid DEA Number

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is an agency that enforces the laws and regulations that concern controlled substance and it issues licenses to health care providers authorized to prescribe controlled substances. Each certified practitioner has an identification number consists of two letters and seven digits.

Things You'll Need

• DEA number
• pen
• paper
• calculator

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Instructions

Verifying a DEA number

• 1

  Examine the DEA number. The first letter of a valid certification indicates a registrant type and usually is an "A"' or a "B," depending on when the number was issued.

• 2

  Note the second letter of the DEA number. It should be the first letter in the practitioner's last name. For example, "J" will be the second letter if the doctor's name is Johnson.

• 3

  Add the first, third and fifth digits of the DEA number.

• 4

  Add the second, fourth and sixth digits of the number.

• 5

  Multiply the result of the second set of digits by two.

• 6

  Add the result of the first set of numbers and the result of the third set of numbers. The last digit of this result must be the same as the last digit of the DEA number.