21 U.S.C. § 871
Section 871 · Attorney General
This is § 501 of the Controlled Substances Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 37 court decisions — leading case Gonzales v. Oregon (2006)
Most recently applied in United States v. Keller (June 2025)
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.
The Attorney General may delegate any of his functions under this subchapter to any officer or employee of the Department of Justice.
The Attorney General may promulgate and enforce any rules, regulations, and procedures which he may deem necessary and appropriate for the efficient execution of his functions under this subchapter.
The Attorney General may accept in the name of the Department of Justice any form of device, bequest, gift, or donation where the donor intends to donate property for the purpose of preventing or controlling the abuse of controlled substances. He may take all appropriate steps to secure possession of such property and may sell, assign, transfer, or convey any such property other than moneys.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This subchapter, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (b), was in the original “this title”, meaning title II of Pub. L. 91–513, Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1242, as amended, and is popularly known as the “Controlled Substances Act”. For complete classification of title II to the Code, see second paragraph of Short Title note set out under section 801 of this title and Tables.