Which act created the Drug Enforcement Administration and regulates controlled substances?

• A. Harrison Narcotics Tax Act
• B. Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention Act
• C. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
• D. The Controlled Substances Act (CSA)

Answer: (D)

Regulating controlled substances at the federal level and giving enforcement authority to the agency responsible for those substances is provided by the Controlled Substances Act. It creates the scheduling system (I through V) and lays out who can manufacture, distribute, dispense, or possess these substances, with specific penalties for violations. The Drug Enforcement Administration is the primary agency charged with enforcing the CSA, licensing registrants, and policing the handling of controlled substances. While the DEA itself was created in 1973 through a reorganizational plan, the enduring framework that governs how substances are controlled and how enforcement works comes from the Controlled Substances Act. The other acts mentioned either predate this framework or cover different aspects (taxation of narcotics, general drug safety for foods and medicines) and do not provide the same regulatory structure for controlled substances.