Editing Drug Enforcement Administration (section)

==History and mandate==
The Drug Enforcement Administration was established on July 1, 1973,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2021-04/1970-1975_p_30-39_0.pdf |title=The DEA Years |website=www.dea.gov}}</ref> by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973, signed by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Richard Nixon]] on July 28.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://resources.learningforlife.org/exploring/scholarships/pdf/dea.pdf |work=Learning for Life |title=Drug Enforcement Administration: Drug Abuse Prevention Service Award |access-date=October 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020143354/http://resources.learningforlife.org/exploring/scholarships/pdf/dea.pdf |archive-date=October 20, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> It proposed the creation of a single [[List of federal agencies in the United States|federal agency]] to enforce the [[federal drug laws]] as well as consolidate and coordinate the government's [[Prohibition of drugs|drug control]] activities. [[United States Congress|Congress]] accepted the proposal, as they were concerned with the growing availability of drugs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deamuseum.org/dea_history_book/1970_1975.htm|title=History of the DEA: 1970 – 1975|publisher=deamuseum.org DEA museum|access-date=April 30, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928044643/http://www.deamuseum.org/dea_history_book/1970_1975.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = September 28, 2007}}</ref> As a result, the [[Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs]] (BNDD), the [[Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement]] (ODALE); approximately 600 Special Agents of the Bureau of Customs, Customs Agency Service, and other federal offices merged to create the DEA.<ref name=pbs>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/etc/cron.html|title=Marijuana Timeline|access-date=April 23, 2007|publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service]]|archive-date=July 9, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709101022/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/etc/cron.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The DEA is the primary federal agency charged with implementing and enforcing the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which is Title II of a larger Federal Act called the [[Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970]]. The DEA is responsible for drugs listed in the CSA's five drug Schedules, categories that rank drugs by their potential for harm, and whether they have a medical use. The CSA seeks to ensure legitimate access to controlled pharmaceuticals, while preventing illicit use of controlled drugs. To these ends, the DEA implements two intersecting legal schemes created by the CSA, ''registration'' provisions for entities involved in legal activities, violations of which are not usually criminal offenses, and ''trafficking'' provisions for illegal activities, violations of which are criminal offenses.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lampe |first=Joanna R. |date=January 19, 2023 |title=The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): A Legal Overview for the 118th Congress |url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/r/r45948 |access-date=May 11, 2024 |website=[[Congressional Research Service]]}}</ref>

From the early 1970s, DEA headquarters was located at 1405 I ("Eye") Street NW in downtown Washington, D.C. With the overall growth of the agency in the 1980s (owing to the increased emphasis on federal drug law enforcement efforts) and concurrent growth in the headquarters staff, the DEA began to search for a new headquarters location; locations in [[Arkansas]], [[Mississippi]] and various abandoned military bases around the United States were considered. However, then–[[United States Attorney General|attorney general]] [[Edwin Meese]] determined that the headquarters had to be located close to the attorney general's office. Thus, in 1989, the headquarters relocated to 600–700 Army-Navy Drive in the [[Pentagon City, Arlington, Virginia|Pentagon City]] area of Arlington County, Virginia, near the eponymous [[Pentagon City station|Metro station]].<ref>{{cite web |title=DEA History Book, 1985–1990 |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/history/1985-1990.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622214536/http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/history/1985-1990.html |archive-date=June 22, 2008 |publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]] |access-date=August 31, 2011}}</ref>

[[File:DEA badge.PNG|thumb|left|150px|Drug Enforcement Administration 25th Anniversary badge]]

On April 19, 1995, [[Timothy McVeigh]] carried out a terrorist attack on the [[Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building]] in [[Oklahoma City]]. He was targeting regional offices for the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]] (ATF) and DEA, all of which had carried out raids that he viewed as unjustified intrusions on the rights of the people.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Michel, Lou |author2=Herbeck, Dan|title=American Terrorist|year=2001|publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=9780060394073|url=https://archive.org/details/americanterroris00loum |url-access=registration }}</ref> This attack caused the deaths of two DEA employees, one task force member and two contractors in the [[Oklahoma City bombing]]. Subsequently, the DEA headquarters complex was classified as a Level IV installation under [[United States federal building security]] standards, meaning it was to be considered a high-risk law enforcement target for terrorists.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Joseph|title=Anti-Terrorism: Criteria, Tools & Technology|url=http://www.protectiveglazing.org/resources/Anti-Terrorism%20-%20Criteria,%20Tools%20and%20Technology.pdf |website=Protective Glazing|publisher=Applied Research Associates, Inc.|access-date=1 October 2014|date=2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130918143729/http://www.protectiveglazing.org/resources/Anti-Terrorism%20-%20Criteria%2C%20Tools%20and%20Technology.pdf |archive-date=September 18, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Security measures include hydraulic steel roadplates to enforce [[standoff distance]] from the building, metal detectors and guard stations.<ref>{{cite web |title=The DEA museum |url=http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1797.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119062135/http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1797.html |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |magazine=Cannabis Culture Magazine |date=December 15, 2009 |access-date=August 31, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In February 2003, the DEA established a Digital Evidence Laboratory within its Office of Forensic Sciences.<ref name=History>{{cite web |title=1999–2003 |url=http://www.dea.gov/pubs/history/1999-2003.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526082104/http://www.dea.gov/pubs/history/1999-2003.html |archive-date=May 26, 2007 |publisher=DEA |access-date=June 3, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>