Most MEs aren't MDs and so aren't licensed physicians. Ducky *is* an licenced MD but may not have a DEA licence to prescribe as he doesn't have an active practise, being a forensic pathologist for the government. The DEA would have to have a good reason to grant him a valid prescriber number and since he doesn't interact with living patients, I'd say the odds are no, he can't write prescriptions.
I'm not saying that he *doesn't* have one. But according to my nurse-prescriber, the DEA assigns valid numbers on a case-by-case basis. Just because you have a licence to practise medicine (granted by the State), doesn't mean that you have a DEA number (i.e. midwives and MEs). But you don't have to be an MD to have a DEA number either (nurse-prescribers). So, if Ducky could prove "good cause" to have a number, they would give him one. The question is, why would he need one? He's an acting ME with an MD and a PhD, not a physician with an active practice. This might be a question for the NCIS-CBS list. It would be interesting to know the "official" answer.
I talked to a friend of mine who's a nurse and she said that any MD (including Ducky) can call in a script without a DEA number as long as the medication is a non-narcotic. Nurses can also do this, under their doctor's supervision.
It's only when the drug is a narcotic that the pharmacy *must* have a DEA number and a written/signed script *in hand* from an MD before they can fill it.
So Ducky could call in antibiotics but not something as simple as Tylenol-3 (which is hydrocodone and a narcotic), unless he had a DEA number.
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It's only when the drug is a narcotic that the pharmacy *must* have a DEA number and a written/signed script *in hand* from an MD before they can fill it.
So Ducky could call in antibiotics but not something as simple as Tylenol-3 (which is hydrocodone and a narcotic), unless he had a DEA number.
Hope that helps.
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