21 U.S.C. § 1901
Section 1901 · Findings and policy
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case Zevallos v. Obama ex rel. United States (2015)
Most recently applied in Samark Lopez Bello v. Andrea Gacki (March 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Presidential Decision Directive 42, issued on October 21, 1995, ordered agencies of the executive branch of the United States Government to, inter alia, increase the priority and resources devoted to the direct and immediate threat international crime presents to national security, work more closely with other governments to develop a global response to this threat, and use aggressively and creatively all legal means available to combat international crime.
(2) Executive Order No. 12978 of October 21, 1995, provides for the use of the authorities in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to target and apply sanctions to four international narcotics traffickers and their organizations that operate from Colombia.
(3) IEEPA was successfully applied to international narcotics traffickers in Colombia and based on that successful case study, Congress believes similar authorities should be applied worldwide.
(4) There is a national emergency resulting from the activities of international narcotics traffickers and their organizations that threatens the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.
It shall be the policy of the United States to apply economic and other financial sanctions to significant foreign narcotics traffickers and their organizations worldwide to protect the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States from the threat described in subsection (a)(4) of this section.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Executive Order No. 12978, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), is Ex. Ord. No. 12978, Oct. 21, 1995, 60 F.R. 54579, which is set out as a note under section 1701 of Title 50, War and National Defense.
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), is title II of Pub. L. 95–223, Dec. 28, 1977, 91 Stat. 1626, as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 35 (§1701 et seq.) of Title 50, War and National Defense. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1701 of Title 50 and Tables.
Effective Date
Pub. L. 106–120, title VIII, §811, Dec. 3, 1999, 113 Stat. 1636, provided that: “This title [see Short Title note set out below] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 3, 1999].”
Short Title
Pub. L. 106–120, title VIII, §801, Dec. 3, 1999, 113 Stat. 1626, provided that: “This title [enacting this chapter and amending section 1182 of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality] may be cited as the ‘Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act’.”