Controlled Substances and the Prescription Monitoring Program
Schedule is the first question
The CSA places drugs in Schedules I–V by abuse potential and medical use; Schedule I has no accepted medical use. Every handler needs a DEA registration for each location, plus the corresponding state authority. CII prescriptions must be written, signed, and dated; no refills; a prescriber may issue multiple prescriptions covering up to 90 days with instructions; emergency oral CII orders require written follow-up within seven days. Partial filling of CII is permitted only in narrow circumstances. CIII–CV require the prescriber's DEA number.
Records: initial and biennial inventory, receipts (DEA Form 222 or CSOS), dispensing records, and disposal documentation; theft or significant loss must be reported to DEA and the Board. Security means locked storage and limited access.
Alabama PDMP: dispensers report controlled substance dispensing, and pharmacists query the PDMP in defined circumstances and review the report. Corresponding responsibility means resolving red flags - early refills, multiple prescribers, cash payment, long travel distances, overlapping opioids and benzodiazepines - before dispensing, with the resolution documented.
Traps: reading a 90-day CII supply as refills; assuming an out-of-state prescriber needs no DEA registration; treating the PDMP check as optional; ignoring a pattern because each individual fill looks valid on its face.
Rule of thumb: schedule → authority → quantity/refill limits → PDMP review → documentation.