DEA Anniversary

Creation of the DEA (July 1, 1973) In 1973, President Richard Nixon declared “an all-out global war on the drug menace” and sent Reorganization Plan No. 2 to Congress. “Right now,” he pointed out, “the federal government is fighting the war on drug abuse under a distinct handicap, for its efforts are those of a loosely confederated alliance facing a resourceful, elusive, worldwide enemy. Certainly, the cold-blooded underworld networks that funnel narcotics from suppliers all over the world are no respecters of the bureaucratic dividing lines that now complicate our anti-drug efforts.”