Reagan signs Anti-Drug Abuse Act establishing US jurisdiction over drug vessels on the high seas under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act

President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-570) on October 27, 1986, which included the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) as Title III. The MDLEA established that the United States has jurisdiction to prosecute drug trafficking on the high seas aboard vessels of US registry, vessels of foreign nations that consent to US jurisdiction, and vessels operating "without nationality" regardless of location. The law gave the US Coast Guard unprecedented extraterritorial interdiction authority and eliminated the nexus requirement that had previously required prosecutors to prove a connection between high-seas trafficking and the United States.