[OttawaFreeper]

Well, it was created to enforce one of the grandest failures in American history, the 18th Amendment, also known as the Volstead Act.

[oblomov]

And yet, despite the 18th Amendment being repealed, we got prohibition anyway (the Controlled Substances Act), as well as an FDA that imposes prior restraint on dissemination and discussion of scientific research on medicines.

[x]

Well, it was created to enforce one of the grandest failures in American history, the 18th Amendment, also known as the Volstead Act.

Sort of. The history is complicated, but that's where the bureau got its power. J. Edgar Hoover, though, was a political policeman from the start, hunting first for German sympathizers, and then for Reds and anarchists.