Drug Enforcement Administration overview and operations

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

In this paper, I have discussed about the renowned drug control agency in the United States of America i.e. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). I have given a brief history of DEA in the first part and then I have given a detailed account of its responsibilities and mission. Later, I have given a brief account about how it stemmed out from FBN.

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was established in 1973 so that it could work with other agencies in order to control the cultivation, production and the smuggling of the illicit drugs. The maximum efforts are directed towards international narcotics smuggling organizations. On the other hand, a part of it works for the elimination of drugs from interstate ("Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)," 2013). It was in July 1973 that the Drug Enforcement Administration was created via an Executive order by the United States President serving in the office at that time i.e. Richard Nixon. The reason of establishment of Drug Enforcement Administration was, if truth be told, the establishment of a unified command to combat against the illegitimate and prohibited drugs. At the earlier stages, the budget was limited which was less than $75 million with a workforce of 1470 agents. However, at the present times, this workforce has been increased to a number of 5000 special agents with a budget of $2.02 billion ("DEA History"). In the present day, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is the most important law enforcement agency in the United States whose main objective is to fight against the sale and distribution of narcotics and other illicit drugs. The Drug Enforcement Administration operates under the United States of America Justice Department and is also responsible for the enforcement of the anti-drug laws. It also holds the responsibility of carrying out investigations within the state and at international level as well. The main emphasis of DEA is to track the major drug dealers and the gangs and to work in order to curb them from the lowest possible level. The effectiveness of the Drug Enforcement Administration in limiting the use of illicit drugs has been questioned several times. It is also important to mention here that the Drug Enforcement Administration has also faced a number of national-level controversies over the use of marijuana for medical purposes (Kleiman & Hawdon, 2011).

The sale and distribution of all the illegal drugs is controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration all over the United States of America. It is the leading agency of the Justice Department which deals in the enforcement of laws. The anti-drug laws are enforced on the manufacture, distribution and dispensing of the legally produced controlled substances as well. The Drug Enforcement Administration's presence at international level is well versed and there are several cases which have been successfully resolved by the renowned organization in addition to the control of the distribution of the illegal drugs internationally. The major law violators are the gangs and the criminals all over the world. In order to disseminate and analyze operational and strategic drug intelligence information, the Drug Enforcement Administration works with and through federal, local, state and foreign law enforcement agencies and officials. There are some non-enforcement methods which are used by DEA internationally which includes the crop substitution and crop eradication. DEA train foreign officials as well. The agents working for the Drug Enforcement Administration internationally seize the property of the alleged drug dealers and traffickers. The agents then formalize a data which helps them to stop the drug trafficking in future. By the end of year 1968, America's counter culture movement was at its peak and the trend of illegal drug use for the recreational purposes was rising. That was an alarming situation and then the President Lyndon Johnson introduced a legislation that ultimately combined the BDAC and Bureau of Narcotics into a single entity: Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs under the department of Justice (Kleiman & Hawdon, 2011).

As far as the core mission of the Drug Enforcement Administration is concerned, it is to enforce the laws and regulations regarding the controlled substances and to bring the law breakers to the criminal and civil justice system of the United States. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) operations are not only limited to the United States but its jurisdiction is across the world as a competent jurisdiction. The organizations and the members are also involved in the growth, manufacturing or distribution of the illicit substances which are destined to be trafficked in United States ("DEA Mission Statement").