The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the U.S. government agency that is responsible for enforcing the laws and rules of drug administrations. Since the FDA's establishment, changing understanding of the potency of different drugs has caused it to establish tougher regulations on the use of certain drugs as opposed to others. The Durham-Humphrey Act modified the FDA's treatment of certain drugs, allowing specific pharmaceuticals to be available to the public only with a physician's prescription.

The Food and Drug Act of 1906 created the FDA, and gave the federal agency authority to [Page 264]seize drugs that had been adulterated or where the strength, quality, or purity of the main ingredients was not clearly stated on the label. The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 ...