On Apr. 7, 1968, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Bureau of Drug Abuse Control and Treasury Department Bureau of Narcotics were transferred to the Department of Justice to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, now known as the Drug Enforcement Administration, consolidating efforts to police traffic in abused drugs.

John E. Ingersoll, a former police chief of Charlotte, NC, was appointed Director of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs on Aug. 1, 1968. Agent recruitment accelerated, giving a priority to officers of the Armed Forces as they emerged from military service.

After 15 months of deliberation, Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act on Oct. 27, 1970. Replacing more than 50 pieces of drug legislation patched together in as many years, the new law strengthened support for treatment, rehabilitation and education as well as for regulation and enforcement. Title II, the enforcement provisions, otherwise cited as the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), was built on entirely new constitutional grounds.