Origin of the Agency The Drug Enforcement Administration has a long history that shapes its significance and succession. Many things happened between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s that marked the years between the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Hippie movement, the last days of the Vietnam War, the breakup of the Beatles, Woodstock, the first man on the moon, and the start of the Watergate scandal (just to name a few). President Richard Nixon took office in 1968, a critical period in ending the war in Vietnam and the violence in the United States due to anti-war and race riots. Before the Drug Enforcement Administration was enacted, drug matters were handled by several federal agencies rather than a single agency as is currently established. “Federal drug law enforcement began in 1915 with the Bureau of Internal Revenue” (“Drug Enforcement Administration” 4). Illegal drug use has always been a problem and continues to increase and remains a prevalent problem throughout the nation. The 1960s marked the predominant era for increased drug use. This was a time when the hippie-marijuana movement was manifest, organized crime mafias were overt, and famed psychologist and writer Timothy Leary advocated psychedelic drugs. During his presidency, Richard Nixon found it necessary to instill a more effective approach to dealing with the growing drug problem, in order to protect America from violence and “restore law and order,” as he would say was his goal and his campaign slogan in the 1968 presidential election. Before the creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), drug control was regulated by the Bureau of Narcotics and By...... half of the document ...... . 2011. ."Drug Enforcement Administration 1970- 1975." The United States Drug Enforcement Administration, nd Web. 4 December 2011. "MICHELE M. LEONHART Administrator of the DEA Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Department of Justice." U.S. Enforcement Administration, n.d. Web. December 6, 2011. “An Overview of Federal Drug Enforcement Administration Southwest Border Drug Enforcement Programs.” Office of National Drug Enforcement Policy Publications by U.S. Department of Justice, Nov. 30, 2011. Web. Dec. 6. 2011. .