Several members of the Texas branch of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task forces visited Marble Falls Middle School on Oct. 6 to educate students about the perils of illicit drugs.

The sixth-grade class met the team, who arrived via helicopter, on the MFMS football field.

The DEA task force is staffed by over 2,200 DEA special agents and over 2,500 state and local officers. Participating state and local task force officers are deputized to perform the same functions as DEA special agents.

In 2016, the DEA State and Local Task Force Program managed 271 state and local task forces, which included Program-funded, provisional, HIDTA (high-intensity drug trafficking area) and Tactical Diversion squads.

With the direct cooperation of state and local partners, the creation of the Task Force Program is one of the ways that DEA enforces these laws.

DEA is charged with the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act as well as investigation of the highest level of domestic and international narcotics traffickers. Established in 1973, this anti- drug agency combined the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) and Customs’ drug agents to provide exclusive enforcement of federal drug laws.

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