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Title 21, Food and DrugsRelease 119-110

§886 Payments and Advances

Title 21 › CHAPTER 13 — DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONTROL › SUBCHAPTER I — CONTROL AND ENFORCEMENT › Part E — Administrative and Enforcement Provisions › § 886

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Attorney General can pay people from Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) funds for information about violations of the drug laws. He can set the amount and may pay even if other laws would give the person a reward. Money the DEA spends to buy controlled substances that is later recovered must be returned to the DEA’s account. The Attorney General can also direct the Treasury Department to advance money to help enforce the drug laws. The Treasury will maintain a Drug Pollution Fund made up of fines collected under section 841(b)(6). Equal amounts of those fines are set aside for the Fund. Congress may allow Fund money to pay for cleaning up pollution caused by the actions tied to those fines. The Treasury Secretary, after consulting the Attorney General, decides payment amounts and pays federal agencies that apply and meet the rules. Applications must describe the fine, how it arose, and the type and severity of the pollution. For tax rules, the Fund is treated like other trust funds.

Full Legal Text

Title 21, §886

Food and Drugs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Payment to informers
The Attorney General is authorized to pay any person, from funds appropriated for the Drug Enforcement Administration, for information concerning a violation of this subchapter, such sum or sums of money as he may deem appropriate, without reference to any moieties or rewards to which such person may otherwise be entitled by law.
(b)Reimbursement for purchase of controlled substances
Moneys expended from appropriations of the Drug Enforcement Administration for purchase of controlled substances and subsequently recovered shall be reimbursed to the current appropriation for the Administration.
(c)Advance of funds for enforcement purposes
The Attorney General is authorized to direct the advance of funds by the Treasury Department in connection with the enforcement of this subchapter.
(d)Drug Pollution Fund
(1)There is established in the Treasury a trust fund to be known as the “Drug Pollution Fund” (hereinafter referred to in this subsection as the “Fund”), consisting of amounts appropriated or credited to such Fund under section 841(b)(6) of this title.
(2)There are hereby appropriated to the Fund amounts equivalent to the fines imposed under section 841(b)(6) of this title.
(3)Amounts in the Fund shall be available, as provided in appropriations Acts, for the purpose of making payments in accordance with paragraph (4) for the clean up of certain pollution resulting from the actions referred to in section 841(b)(6) of this title.
(4)(A)The Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Attorney General, shall make payments under paragraph (3), in such amounts as the Secretary determines appropriate, to the heads of executive agencies or departments that meet the requirements of subparagraph (B).
(B)In order to receive a payment under paragraph (3), the head of an executive agency or department shall submit an application in such form and containing such information as the Secretary of the Treasury shall by regulation require. Such application shall contain a description of the fine imposed under section 841(b)(6) of this title, the circumstances surrounding the imposition of such fine, and the type and severity of pollution that resulted from the actions to which such fine applies.
(5)For purposes of subchapter B of chapter 98 of title 26, the Fund established under this paragraph shall be treated in the same manner as a trust fund established under subchapter A of such chapter.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification In subsec. (b), “Administration” substituted for “Bureau” as the probable intent of Congress in view of amendment by Pub. L. 96–132, which substituted references to the Drug

Enforcement

Administration for references to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs wherever appearing in text.

Amendments

1988—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 100–690 added subsec. (d). 1979—Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 96–132 substituted “Drug

Enforcement

Administration” for “Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Reimbursement by Drug

Enforcement

Administration of Expenses Incurred To Remediate Methamphetamine Laboratories Pub. L. 106–310, div. B, title XXXVI, § 3672, Oct. 17, 2000, 114 Stat. 1246, provided that: “(a) Reimbursement Authorized.—The Attorney General, acting through the Administrator of the Drug

Enforcement

Administration, may reimburse States, units of local government, Indian tribal governments, other public entities, and multi-jurisdictional or regional consortia thereof for expenses incurred to clean up and safely dispose of substances associated with clandestine methamphetamine laboratories which may present a danger to public health or the environment. “(b) Additional DEA Personnel.—From amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to carry out this section, the Attorney General may hire not more than five additional Drug

Enforcement

Administration personnel to administer this section. “(c) Authorization of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General to carry out this section $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

21 U.S.C. § 886

Title 21, Food and Drugs

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110