Why is the DEA and ATF separate? Seems like they cover similar things from similar circles.
Is it because alcohol, tobacco, and firearms also have legal pathways? So they spend time tracking down cheats and checking/enforcing regulations?
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Most people don't consider alcohol and tobacco drugs, also alcohol, tobacco and guns have been around in the US for hundreds of years. Pretty much all the drugs that the DEA covers are relatively new compared to alcohol and tobacco, Cannabis is probably the only exception but even that wasn't nearly as common to grow and consume as the other two. The ATF was founded a year before the DEA.
Are we forgetting that you could buy morphine and even diamorphine tinctures legally for a long time? Often marketed as cough medicine.
You could buy cocaine legally over the counter when Lincoln was president.
Some people say they were born in the wrong decade. Today I learned I was born in the wrong century.
Kinda how I figured it, but didn't know how closely in time they were founded. Interesting!
Me either, I looked it up to figure it out and was surprised as well. I thought they were founded further apart. I think the ATF had a different name formerly.