Introduction
DEA (drug enforcement administration) is an agency of the United States’ federal government formed and enacted under the country’s department of justice. The main duty of the agency in the United States is to help in controlling smuggling and usage of drugs in the country. This paper seeks to discuss the agency. The paper will look into the history the drug enforcement agency with respect to the factors that led to its formation, its goals as well as its comparison with the federal bureau of narcotics.
History of the DEA
The history of the drug enforcement agency can be traced to the earlier years of the twentieth century, though it came to be enforced almost fifty years later. It started as a culture of regulating the usage of drug by the bureau of internal revenue in the United States. Transformations were, however, undertaken in the administration of laws that related to drugs and specific agencies were mandated to oversee regulations that touched on drugs. Two agencies, “bureau of drug abuse control and federal bureau of narcotics” (US, n.d., p. 1) were for example entitled with the responsibility of enforcing drug regulations by the year 1960. Drugs usage in the country was not much felt in the country by this time as it was disregarded by most of the American population.
The regulations were more of steps to control any other form of activities that were not generally accepted in the American society. The issue of drug consumption was however developing in America at a high rate by the early years of 1970s; it had been identified as a potential threat to the American society. Quiet a number of hard drugs had been registered to be crossing borders into the county. Drugs such as heroine, cocaine and marijuana were for example being smuggled into United States. It was due to the trend of increase of the consumption of such drugs that the drug enforcement administration was established (US, n.d).
Reasons for the establishment of DEA
The drug enforcement administration was established with the main aim of enforcing “the controlled substance laws and regulations of the United States” (Tilstone et al., 2006, p. 127). Following the increased level of inflow of illegal drugs in the country, the enforcement administration was instituted to ensure that such companies that were involved in any process that related to such drugs were subjected to judicial systems. The agency was also to facilitate such judicial processes for any individual who was found to be associated with such processes that involved drugs that were either destined from or to the United States.
The administration was also charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the presence of these drugs that were considered illegal and listed by the United States’ government as controlled, were reduced both in the American local markets as well as in other countries. In a bid to subject suspects of drug trafficking to thorough judicial process, the administration was given the mandate to conduct search for necessary evidence for prosecution of suspects of such activities. The agency was thus established to provide forensic support to judicial processes through availing evidence against suspects. For this reason, the agency was equipped with facilities to help it in “analysis of drugs, field assistance at clandestine laboratory seizures and crime scene investigations by forensic chemist” (Tilstone et al., 2006, p. 127).
In its mandate, the agency was also established to upon investigation, present sufficiently collected evidence to be used in judicial processes against suspected individuals associated with identified drugs. The body therefore offers regulatory services by ensuring that people who are involved in the identified drugs do not escape legal punishments. By ensuring proper prosecution of these people, their involvement in the drugs would be curtailed. Involvement of other individuals in the trafficking and selling of the drugs will also be reduced following the warnings that penalties to such prosecutions would sound to the general public (Tilstone et al., 2006).
The agency was also charged with other mandates apart from ensuring sufficient prosecution processes. One of the responsibilities that the institution was charged with was to facilitate efforts that were being made by other agencies in the war against drugs. It was, for example, supposed to harmonize the operations of two bodies, “BNDD and the U.S. customs services” (US, n.d., p. 1). These bodies were accustomed with a lot of wrangles between them that undermined the war against drugs. The drug enforcement agency was thus supposed to reconcile operations of these bodies from their differences. The agency was also formed to create a centralized administration in the war against drugs. The centralization of the operations to control drugs together with the involvement of the FBI in the operations to control drugs in the country was meant to enhance the effectiveness with which the objectives of the war against drugs would be achieved (US, n.d.).
Federal bureau of narcotics and DEA
Federal bureau of narcotics was a body formed in the year 1930 to help the country in the war against drugs. Before its formation, a body called “narcotics division” was used to enforce regulations on drugs following an enactment of an anti drugs law in the year 1918 (Kleiman, 2011, p. 295). The federal bureau of narcotics was then formed under federal legislation to combine the duties of two bodies that previously worked to check on drug usage in the country. Its formation was majorly to counter weaknesses such as corruption that was realized in previous bodies (Kleiman, 2011). The bureau was run by Anslinger as its commissioner for most of its existence. It was, however, replaced by DEA in the year 1973 in a bid to strengthen the war against drugs (Newton, 2007). The body, under Anslinger had relied more on awareness campaigns over the dangers that are caused by drugs (Miller, 2010). Some of the successes of the federal bureau of narcotics included “criminalizing drugs such as Marijuana” (Nation, 2005, p. 1) through initiated legislations (Nation, 2005). The federal bureau of narcotics was then replaced with bureau of narcotics and dangerous drugs before drugs enforcement administration was brought into effect. The difference between the federal bureau of narcotics and DEA was thus their level of jurisdiction which was expanded in DEA (Gerritsen, 2000).
Conclusion
DEA was an agency created to help in controlling the trade and usage of drugs in the United States and other countries. It was formed as an enhanced body to more efficiently undertake the responsibility of previous bodies such as the federal bureau of narcotics. It can thus be said that the inefficiencies of these previous bodies influenced the formation of DEA for better control of drug trafficking and usage.
References
Gerritsen, J. (2000). The control of fuddle and flash: a sociological history of the regulation of alcohol and opiates. Leiden, Netherlands: BRILL.
Kleiman, M. (2011). Encyclopedia of Drug Policy. California, CA: SAGE.
Miller, N. (2010). Principles of Addictions and the Law: Applications in Forensic, Mental Health, and Medical Practice. London, UK: Academic Press.
Nation. (2005). Federal bureau of narcotics. Web.
Newton, M. (2007). The encyclopedia of American law enforcement. New York, NY: InfoBase Publishing.
Tilstone, et al. (2006). Forensic science: an encyclopedia of history, methods, and techniques. New York, NY: ABC-CLIO.
US. (n.d.). Drug enforcement administration. Web.