Arlington, Virginia - DEA Museum - Drug Enforcement Agency

This is a small, but interesting museum run by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, tracing the history of drug enforcement from the Opium war (when drug enforcement meant forcing people to buy and take drugs) to today. Among the highlights are a display of once-legal products which contained opiates and/or cocaine ("Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup"), a simulated head shop featuring an enormous hash pipe emblazoned with the name "TOKEMASTER," and, best of all, the enormous green snakeskin platform shoes and fox and rabbit fur coat worn by DEA undercover agents in the '70s (codename "Huggy Bear"?). [Willie Zaza, 08/19/2004]