California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement

The California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) was a drug law enforcement agency, under the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ). The BNE was established in 1927, and was the oldest narcotic enforcement bureau in the United States at the time of it disbanding. In 2012, elements of the BNE were merged with its sister bureau forming the new California Bureau of Investigation (CBI or BI). Today, the CBI has taken over some of the former BNE's operations that had not been completely eliminated.

California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement
BNE Shoulder Patch
CA DOJ Special Agent Badge
Abbreviation	"BNE"
Motto	Liberty and Justice Under Law
Agency overview
Formed	January 1, 1927; 98 years ago (1927-01-01)
Dissolved	February 17, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-02-17)
Superseding agency	California Bureau of Investigation
Employees	400 Special Agents at peak, 190 special agents in 2012
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	California, U.S.
Operational structure
Headquarters	Sacramento, California
Parent agency	California Department of Justice (1944-2012) Division of Law Enforcement (1969-2012) Department of Penology (1929-1944) Bureau of Pharmacy (1927-1929)
Facilities
Commands	9 Field Offices 52 Regional Narcotics Task Forces
Notables
Program	Campaign Against Marijuana Planting
Website
BNE Website

Role

An aerial shot of California Department of Justice Special Agents posing with several CA DOJ vehicles and aircraft

Its programs targeted "major drug dealers, violent career criminals, clandestine drug manufacturers and violators of prescription drug laws".^[1] In its statewide agency role, it managed several programs involved in enforcing federal and state drug laws, as well as catching violent criminals who use illegal weapons while committing crimes. It coordinated with local law enforcement agencies. It used Special Operations Units, which identified individuals and groups involved in drug trafficking. They did so by examining financial records and performing undercover operations such as infiltration, surveillance, and tracing narcotic sources to clandestine manufacturers or importers. The BNE focused on targeting the trafficking operations and not minor figures within criminal groups. At the same time, through its diversion program, the Bureau trained doctors, nurses and pharmacists to help them "identify schemes and methods" used in obtaining controlled substances legitimately to then sell them illicitly. The BNE also took part in investigating medical professionals involved in such operations, for example by prescribing or dispensing controlled substances for illegal use.^[2] In 1939, BNE Director Paul E. Madden pushed for a California State law amendment which created the Triplicate Prescription Program, which required there be three copies of prescriptions: one copy for the pharmacy, one copy for BNE and the third that had to be preserved for two years.^[3]

Its headquarters were located in Sacramento among other CA DOJ investigative bureaus, with nine regional offices in Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Redding, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. Task forces and operations within the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement included the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), the Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Program (Clan Lab or CLEP), Violence Suppression Units (VSU), the CrackDown Program, the California Triplicate Prescription Program (TPP), the Diversion Program, the Financial Investigations Program (FIP), Special Operation Units (SOU), and over 50 regional narcotics task forces throughout California. 48 regional narcotic task forces previously run by BNE now fall under the CBI.^[4] In 2009, the BNE had 187 agents.^[5]

Special Agent Rank Classifications

• Special Agent
• Special Agent Supervisor / Task Force Commander
• Special Agent in-Charge
• Senior Special Agent in-Charge
• Assistant Chief
• Deputy Chief
• Chief

List of Chiefs of BNE

Name	Took office	Left office
Frank H. Benson	1927	1930
H.S. Seager	1930	1931
Edward Powers	1931	1931
Joseph P. Anderson	1932	1932
George K. Home	1932	1933
William G. Walker	1933	1939
Paul E. Madden	1939	1943
F.J. O'Ferrall	1943	1947
Walter R. Creighton	1947	1958
John E. Storer	1958	1972
Leslie Menconi	1972	1974
Robert W. Jensen	1975	1975
Eugene B. Hollingsworth	1975	1977
	1976	1978
Steve C. Helsley	1979	1985
Charles E. Casey	1986	1986
Joe Doane	1986	2000
Christy McCampbell	2000	2003
John Gaines	2004	2011
Kent Shaw	2011	2012

In popular culture

See also: Campaign Against Marijuana Planting § In popular culture

• The 1958 film The True Story of Lynn Stuart, loosely based on a true story, includes an introduction by then California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, commended the work of BNE.

• Bruce Springsteen's 1995 song Sinaloa Cowboys, was written based on a Los Angeles Times article that included many quotes of BNE agents, that were used as lines in the song.^[6]

• In light of the opioid epidemic and the release of previously sealed documents from Purdue Pharma, the episode 'In Triplicate' of the podcast Revisionist History, hosted by Malcolm Gladwell, covered the history of the Triplicate Prescription Program, created in 1939 by BNE Chief Paul Madden and its influence. Two months early, in May 2022, The Quarterly Journal of Economics published an article, Origins of the Opioid Crisis and its Enduring Impacts, which studied the difference in the opioid crisis in states that adopted a BNE style triplicate program and those that did not.^[7]

• BNE plays a role in multiple novels by William P. Wood, including Court of Honor, Quicksand, and Broken Trust, which was adapted into a 1995 made-for-tv movie starring Tom Selleck.

References

1. McGreevy, Patrick (October 2017). "As the top pot-producing state in the nation, California could be on thin ice with the federal government". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
2. Mark A. R. Kleiman; James E. Hawdon. 2011. Encyclopedia of Drug Policy. SAGE Publications. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4129-7695-4.
3. "Writing in Triplicate". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
4. "Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement". State of California Department of Justice. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
5. "Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement Pleads for Continued Funding". NBC Los Angeles. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
6. "ROLL OF THE DICE: SINALOA COWBOYS". estreetshuffle.com. January 4, 2022. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
7. Weiner PhD MPH, Janet (January 11, 2022). "The Origins of the Opioid Epidemic: Study points to marketing of OxyContin". Penn LDI. Retrieved 2023-11-26.

External links

• Archive of Official BNE Government Website
• Former Official BNE Website