DEA forms 222

Many pharmacy technicians when they first start to work in a pharmacy, along with pharmacy workers or anyone who hasn't been around a pharmacy setting in their life before are new to the idea of what CII is and that there are many different restrictions to what you can and cannot do with these drugs. Besides the fact that these prescriptions cannot contain refills, must have the name, birthday, and address of the patient listed on them along with other information, they also have very strict ordering and receiving policies. When I first started at the pharmacy we had a certain person who was able to the CII orders, but one of the times that it got messed up, they restricted the ordering to the pharmacists at our pharmacy. At the new pharmacy I work at the pharmacist is the only one who orders CII's.

To do so requires what is referred to as a DEA 222 form, and it looks somewhat like the above posted. The DEA 222 form has three different parts, the top part which you can see here, and two carbon copies for filing and keeping for a certain amount of years.

Here is some of the pertinent information that one should know regarding a DEA 222 form:
1) first and probably one of the most important, is that you can't "erase" or "cross out" mistakes, if you make a mistake you must cross through the document and keep it on file as a mistake record. Because if there is a problem on the order the manufactures then regard this is worthless.
2) These voided or unused forms must all be documented and tracked, along with the used and filled out forms as well
3) If one should lose a DEA 222 form or multiple DEA 222 forms, they have to report this to the DEA office as soon as they realize it.
4) Copy 1 and 2 are sent off to the manufacturer in a certain envelope that is provided and the last one is kept for the pharmacy's personal records.


When a CII order is received the following needs to be done as soon as the order is received if possible:

Required Information for Purchasing Records (DEA website)

The following must be recorded or appear on the invoice when acquiring controlled substances:

• Name, address, and DEA registration number of supplier or manufacturer from where this is from
• Name, concentration, dosage form, and quantity of controlled substance
• Signature or initials of authorized user receiving the shipment or pickup
• Date received

At our pharmacy this is all done by the pharmacist and kept in a certain CII booklet that is always checked before the end of the night. 

This is only a small insight into what it is like to deal with DEA 222 forms but even by this we can tell that it is something that you have to take seriously and know what you're doing before you proceed to do so. Many pharmacies have different methods of how they do this and their check methods, but either way this is something that needs to be done by a trained professional who knows what they're doing and how to do it.