This
Week
in
History
6/27/03
June 28, 1776: The first draft of the Declaration of Independence is written on Dutch hemp paper. A second draft, the version released on July 4, is also written on hemp paper. The final draft is copied from the second draft onto animal parchment. June 29, 1938: The Christian Century reports, "[I]n some districts inhabited by Latino Americans, Filipinos, Spaniards, and Negroes, half the crimes are attributed to the marijuana craze." This quote, which of course bore no resemblance to actual reality, illustrates the role of racial prejudice and tensions in the genesis of drug laws, a repeating historical phenomenon. June 30, 1906: The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 is enacted, creating the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with the power to approve all foods and drugs meant for human consumption. FDA's creation effectively puts the patent medicine industry out of business. The Act also requires that certain drugs only be sold on prescription, and launches the "Warning -- May be habit forming" label that is still in use today. Nevertheless, the Pure Food and Drug Act, while increasing government control, doesn't quite amount to drug prohibition as we know it today. That waits eight more years, for the Harrison Act. July, 1998: US attorney general Janet Reno and Mexico attorney general Jorge Madrazo Cuellar sign the Brownville Agreement, pledging to inform each other about sensitive cross-border law enforcement operations. The agreement is made in the aftermath of Operation Casablanca, an 18-month investigation into drug money laundering at the US-Mexico border, which had sparked the most serious crisis in US-Mexico relations in recent years. July 1, 1930: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) is established, an agency preceding the DEA that is independent of the Department of the Treasury's Prohibition Unit, and is unaffected by the subsequent passage of the Twenty-First Amendment that repealed federal Alcohol Prohibition. July 1, 1973: The Drug Enforcement Administration is established by President Nixon. It is designed to be a "superagency" capable of handling all aspects of the drug problem. The DEA consolidates agents from the BNDD, Customs, the CIA, and ODALE, and is headed by Myles Ambrose. It becomes known for its use of "cowboy" law enforcement tactics that stretch the limits of the Fourth Amendment, including "no-knock" warrants, IRS audits and wiretaps.
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