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Comment by dataflow | Hacker News Reader

Interesting that the drug enforcement administration can make it illegal to buy something as a chemical. Their name would suggest that they're merely the enforcement arm of the FDA regarding drugs.

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The FDA and the DEA have no connection to each other.

The DEA is a law enforcement agency that aims to fight illegal drug trafficking. the FDA is regulatory agency that aims to ensure the food and medicine legally sold in the US is safe.

The DEA enforces FDA regulations though through criminal and civil prosecution of those using otherwise DEA-legal and properly prescribed substances that are not FDA approved. Except for medical marijuana which had specific executive order to place state-licensed cannabis exempted from FDA regulation, a legally prescribed controlled substance becomes a DEA enforceable illegal substance when it is dispensed without FDA approval of the material.

This is mostly incorrect. The DEA enforces the Controlled Substances Act and the list of scheduled drugs, not FDA regulations.

If you are out there using e.g some experimental cancer drug that hasn't been FDA approved yet, the DEA isn't going to stop you. Their mission is to stop recreational use of drugs that get you high.

FDA approval and regulation is how you end up with a legally dispensed controlled substance of a prescription. If you manage to get the controlled substances from a non-FDA approved source what you have is a pile of illegal controlled substances.

They are not going to give a shit about most experimental cancer drugs because they're not controlled substances.

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