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International Narcotics Control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2017

Ian G. Waddell
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Extract

The use of opium originally prevailed only among vagrants and disreputable persons, who occasionally associated together for the purpose of partaking of this substance, but since it has extended itself among the members and descendants of reputable families, students, and officers of government, many of whom are so infatuated in their attachment to the drug as to make habitual use of it.

Report from the Foyen (Deputy-Governor of Canton) to the Hoppo (Receiver-General of Customs). 1799.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , April 1970 , pp. 310 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1970

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References

1 B. A. Renborg, International Drug Control, A Study of International Action By and Through the League of Nations 51 (Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1947). On the general problem, see also Renborg, “International Control of Narcotics,” 22 Law and Contemporary Problems 86 (1957); U.N. Bureau of Public Information, International Control of Narcotic Drugs 65 I. 22 (1965); Sean O'Callaghan, The Drug Traffic (1967); and for earlier stages see two comments by Herbert May, “Narcotic Drug Control,” International Conciliation, No. 441 (May, 1948) and No. 485 (Nov., 1952).

2 Drug Addiction, Report of the Interdepartmental Committee, 1961, S.O. Code No. 32-503.

3 In a letter to President Roosevelt, Brent suggested the U. S. promote such a movement. Reproduced in P. D. Lowes, The Genesis of International Narcotics Control 108 (Geneva: Droz, 1966).

4 Lowes, op. cit.14.

5 Resolution H. of C. May 30, 1906, calling on Britain to close the opium trade because it was “morally indefensible.” Parliamentary Debates, H. of C, Vol. 158, pp. 494, 516.

6 When the U. S. investigators prepared their briefs for the 1909 Shanghai Commission they discovered a growing U. S. domestic opium problem and, on looking around, saw in Latin America the Andean-Indian coca leaf chewing problem. Lowes, op. cit.16.

7 See also F. J. Klingberg, The Anti-Slavery Movement in England (Yale, 1926).

8 International Opium Convention, The Hague, Jan. 23, 1912. 38 U.S. Stat. L. 1912, 8 L.N. Treaty Series 187, 6 A.J.I.L. Supp. 177 (1912). Numerous drug treaties are mentioned below. There is, of course, the problem of which countries have signed or have not signed each treaty. U.N. Doc. E/CN.7/504, a Note by the Secretary General, Annex I, is most useful as it lists the eleven treaties and protocols from 1912 to 1961 and the countries adhering thereto.

9 International Opium Convention, signed at Geneva Feb. 19, 1925, 81 L.N. Treaty Series 317; 23 A.J.I.L. Supp. 135 (1929).

10 International Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, signed at Geneva July 13, 1931, 139 L.N. Treaty Series 301, 48 Stat. 1543, 28 A.J.I.L. Supp. 21 (1934); see Q. Wright, “The Narcotics Convention of 1931,” 28 A.J.I.L. 475 (1934).

11 This power was never used. See below.

12 18 Bulletin on Narcotics 11 (No. 1, 1966).

13 Convention of 1936 for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs, signed at Geneva Feb. 11, 1936, 198 L.N. Treaty Series 229; see J. G. Starke, “The Convention of 1936 for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs,” 31 A.J.I.L.31 (1937).

14 1946 Protocol, 12 U.N. Treaty Series 180, T.I.A.S., Nos. 1671 and 1859.

15 See Hungdah Chiu, , “Succession in International Organisations,” 14 Int. and Comp. Law Q. 83 (1965)Google Scholar; also D. P. Myers, , “Liquidation of League of Nations Functions,” 42 A.J.I.L. 320, at 338 (1948)Google Scholar.

16 Protocol signed at Paris, 1948, 44 U.N. Treaty Series 277, T.I.A.S., No. 2308.

17 Protocol for Limiting and Regulating the Cultivation of the Poppy Plant, the Production of International and Wholesale Trade in, and the Use of, Opium, signed at New York on June 23, 1953, U.N. Doc. E/N.T./8. Is this Protocol still alive after the 1961 Single Convention? See Memorandum of the Office of the Legal Adviser, U. S. Dept. of State, “The Continued Application of the 1953 Opium Protocol,” 57 A.J.I.L. 896 (1963).

18 The Single Convention of 1961 on Narcotic Drugs, U.N. Doc. E/Conf./31/22; H.M.S.O. Cmnd. 1580 (U.K.); 520 U.N. Treaty Series 204; T.I.A.S., No. 6298. See also Gregg, “The Single Convention,” 16 Food, Drug and Cosm. L.J. 187 (1961); A. Lande, “The Single Convention,” 16 Int. Organization 776 (1962); Goodrich, “New Trends in Narcotic Drugs,” Int. Conciliation No. 530 (1960); and for Report of U. S. Acting Secretary of State, see 61 A.J.I.L. 802 (1987).

19 For a brief account of the earlier efforts to draft a single convention, see Engel, “Integration of International Legislation,” 45 A.J.I.L. 770 (1951).

20 For a recent picture of how this works in practice, see Implementation of the Narcotics Treaties and International Control—a Note by the Secretary-General, Doc. E/ CN.7/504, pars. 12 and 13. For a continuing picture, see Bulletin on Narcotics Control, a U.N. quarterly.

21 ECOSOC resolution, Feb. 18, 1946.

22 See ECOSOC Res. 845, Part 2 (XXXII). For text of this resolution see 1961 U.N. Year Book 396.

23 Members of the Commission as of 22nd Session held at Geneva, Jan. 8-26, 1968, who are to remain until 1971, are as follows: Brazil, Canada, China, Dominican Republic, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Ghana, Hungary, India, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, U.S.S.R., U.A.R, U. S., U.K. and Yugoslavia.

24 “20 Years of Narcotics Control Under the U.N.,” 18 Bulletin on Narcotics, No. 1 (1966).

25 Press Release SOC/NAR/36, 1968.

26 See Arts. 17-20.

27 See Arts. 30 and 31.

28 Gregg, , “The Single Convention, loc. cit204. See also, by the same author, “The U.N. and the Opium Problem,” 13 Int. and Comp. Law Q. 96 (1964)Google Scholar.

29 See U.N. Doc. E/Conf. 34/1, p. 116.

30 For discussion of opium production in China see U.N. Docs. E/CN.7/211 (1950), E/CN.7/232, Add. 2 (1952), E/CN.7/SR. 181, 182 (1952), ECOSOC Official Records, 30th Sess., Supp. No. 9 (1960), pars. 93-121.

31 The term psychotropic substanceis to be understood to mean depressants and stimulants of the central nervous system such as barbiturates, tranquilizers, amphetamines and also other substances, such as L.S.D., which create a hallucinogenic among other effects. The term excludes narcotic drugs which are covered by the international treaties, and also alcohol.

32 For reasons why, see Doc. E/CN.7/509, Oct. 23, 1967.

33 At its 23rd session, Jan. 13, 1969, the Commission adopted a draft protocol on the subject, which was submitted to governments for comment by June 30, 1969. For text of draft (U.N. Doc. E/4606/Rev. 1, Annex IV (May, 1969)), see 8 Int. Legal Materials 769 (July, 1969).