Federal Bureau of Narcotics: Difference between revisions
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=== Anslinger === |
=== Anslinger === |
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[[Harry J. Anslinger]] was appointed its |
With the creation of the FBN in 1930, [[Harry J. Anslinger]] was appointed its Commissioner by [[Secretary of the Treasury]] [[Andrew Mellon]] under [[President of the United States|President]] [[Herbert Hoover]]. Under Anslinger, the FBN lobbied for harsh penalties for drug usage. |
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=== The Drug War === |
=== The Drug War === |
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Revision as of 07:18, 16 August 2024
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (August 2018) |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 14, 1930 |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Dissolved | 1968 |
| Superseding agencies | |
| Jurisdiction | U.S. Government |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | Department of the Treasury |
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, established in the Department of the Treasury by an act of June 14, 1930, consolidating the functions of the Federal Narcotics Control Board, the Internal Revenue Narcotic Division, and the BOI Narcotic Division. These older bureaus were established to assume enforcement responsibilities assigned to the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 and the Jones–Miller Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act of 1922.[1]
History
Anslinger
With the creation of the FBN in 1930, Harry J. Anslinger was appointed its Commissioner by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon under President Herbert Hoover. Under Anslinger, the FBN lobbied for harsh penalties for drug usage.
The Drug War
The FBN is credited for criminalizing drugs such as marijuana with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, as well as strengthening the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914. Even so, the main focus of the FBN was fighting opium and heroin smuggling. One instance against opium was the Opium Poppy Control Act of 1942.[2]
Malachi Harney, Assistant Commissioner of the FBN, wrote in an article for the University of California Press on the enumerated powers of the agency:
"It should be borne in mind that the Bureau are confined to a rather narrow range of specifically enumerated drugs. These are opium... alkaloids and derivatives of opium (including such products as morphine, heroin, codine, dilaudid), and semisynthetic derivatives of opium... wholly synthetic substances... opiates... the coca leaf and its derivatives (cocaine)... marihuana... cannabis... The Federal Bureau of Narcotics does not have responsibilities in connection with many other chemicals generally described as dangerous drugs such as... barbiturates, amphetamines, tranquilizers... hallucinogens..." [3]
Overseas offices
The FBN over time established several offices overseas in France, Italy, Turkey, Beirut, Thailand and other hotspots of international narcotics smuggling. These agents (never totaling more than 17) cooperated with local drug enforcement agencies in gathering intelligence on smugglers and also made undercover busts locally. The work against heroin and opium was however hamstrung by US foreign policy considerations: during the Vietnam War for instance great importance was placed on investigating minor Vietnamese smugglers that could be connected to the resistance while investigations of large scale smugglers from the US ally Thailand were left unfinished.
Dissolution
Anslinger retired in 1962 and was succeeded by Henry Giordano, who was the commissioner of the FBN until it was merged in 1968 with the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control, an agency of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), an agency of the United States Department of Justice. The BNDD was a predecessor agency of the current Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).[4]
Legal disputes
In Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, the FBN was sued for violating the 4th Amendment rights of Bivens, through the illegal search and seizure of drugs without a warrant.[5]
See also
- Sherman v. United States: A U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Bureau.
- List of United States federal law enforcement agencies
- Garland H. Williams
- George Hunter White
- Charlie Siragusa
- Jacques Voignier
- Malachi Harney
Notes
- ^ "Records of the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA]". 15 August 2016.
- ^ Anslinger, Harry Jacob; Tompkins, William F. (1 January 1980). The Traffic in Narcotics. Arno Press. ISBN 9780405135675 – via Google Books.
- ^ Harney, Malachi L. "The U.S. Bureau of Narcotics". Current History. 53 (311) – via University of California Press.
- ^ "Marijuana Timeline | Busted - America's War On Marijuana | FRONTLINE | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
- ^ "Webster BIVENS, Petitioner, v. SIX UNKNOWN NAMED AGENTS OF FEDERAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS. | Supreme Court | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute". Law.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- Defunct agencies of the United States government
- United States Department of the Treasury agencies
- History of drug control
- Defunct federal law enforcement agencies of the United States
- Drugs in the United States
- Government agencies established in 1930
- 1930 establishments in the United States
- 1968 disestablishments in the United States
- Government agencies disestablished in 1968