over drugs. Alternative versions of such notions as "production",

"refining", "processing", "storage reserves", "state storage reserves",

"import-export" and others were removed. For the first time, a list of

medicines containing drugs was established and production, processing, use,

exportation and importation of them would now be controlled. The system of

evaluating and estimating the overall demand for drugs in all countries

regardless of their membership in the given Convention was perfected.

Accountability for the commitments of member governments was enhanced. A

special agency, the Control Commission, was set up to study data from

governments about the quantity of narcotics and accounts about their

receipt and use. In case the Commission found any deviations or the demand

for drugs was too large in its judgment, the Commission had the right to

question the examined figures and carry out its own calculations. The

extradition of criminals was envisaged (under certain conditions) for

committing crimes linked to drugs. The convention stipulated that member-

countries had to have norms in their national legislation concerning the

criminal punishment of persons who encouraged the illegal spread of the

most dangerous forms of drugs.

The Convention also contained some administrative decisions aimed at

perfecting the domestic control over drugs. It urged member-countries, in

particular, to set up a special body that was to apply the Convention's

decisions; regulate, supervise and control the trade in medicines on the

Convention's list; act against toxicomania using all possible measures for

halting its development, and bar, in particular, the illegal trafficking of

toxic substances.

Under the Convention cooperation between member-countries expanded

considerably. Along with the traditional exchange of the texts of legal

acts, an annual report was to be submitted to the Secretary General of the

League of Nations about the Convention's implementation on the territories

of the member-states. The report was to be compiled in accordance with the

model agreed upon by the Consultative Commission on the Turnover of Opium

and other medicines containing harmful substances.

The contracting parties also pledged to inform each other, through the

office of the League of Nations Secretary General, about all the important

cases of illegal drug trafficking. These reports had to highlight sources

or methods of illegal trafficking, the nature and the amount of drugs, the

time and place of their discovery, smuggling methods and sanctions and

measures in acted by the government.

The Geneva Convention of 1936:

The convention against illegal trade in drastic medicines signed on

26th June 1936 in Geneva became the next important document.

That Convention introduced a number of new essential amendments

corresponding with its title containing the word 'struggle', which opened a

prospect for a juridical cooperation in campaigns against drug abuse. The

range of crimes subject to prosecution was outlined and expanded

considerably. Contracting parties pledged to prosecute persons engaged in

the illegal manufacture, storage, shipment, exportation, sale or purchase

of drugs or who organized conspiracies with the aim of premeditated

participation in the illegal drug trade. The Convention also provided for

the extension of reciprocal legal assistance through the exchange of

necessary information to identify and arrest criminals and extradite them

to a foreign country.

World War II pushed the problems of international cooperation and

control of narcotic substances to the background. But right after the end

of the war this problem came to the foreground once again. In view of this,

some international acts were adopted that regulated relations in the area

of narcotics. The following documents seem to be of interest.

The Protocols of 1946 and of 1948:

The Protocol on Drugs signed in Lake Success (New York) on 11th

December, 1946 provided for the introduction of changes into the

agreements, conventions and protocols on drugs signed in the Hague on 23d

January 1912; in Geneva - on 11th February 1925, 19th February 1925 and

13th July 1931; in Bangkok - on 27th November 1931 and in Geneva - on 26th

June 1936. The Protocol on Drugs covered issues that arose in view of the

dissolution of the League of Nations and the transferring of some of its

drug control functions to the Organization of United Nations, the World

Health Organization or its Interim Committee, and of the transferring of

duties of the League of Nations Secretary General- to the UN Secretary

General. The Protocol was the first UN document that introduced necessary

re-naming although in reality changed nothing in the system of control and

cooperation that existed hitherto.

The Protocol signed in Paris on 19th November 1948 dealt with the

establishment of international control on medicines that were not put on

the list of the 1931 Convention which limited the production and regulated

the distribution of narcotics (changes to this Protocol were introduced by

the 1946 Lake Success Protocol).

The signatories of this Protocol pledged to inform the UN about any

substance that could possibly be abused and also to spread control onto

synthetic drugs that had appeared by the time of the signing, and had not

been previously listed in earlier international regulations.

Discussion of drug issues at the international level and the adoption

of decisions under international law brought national legislation closer

together, helped define priorities of the anti-narcotics movement, form an

understanding of the danger posed by narcotics and control the lists of

narcotics whose manufacture and use was subject to international control.

Yet, the existence of such simultaneously operating legal acts and

international bodies failed to ensure sufficient legal regulation and

control of all the issues connected with narcotics. This failure created

certain difficulties for exercising control over drug abuse. The existing

international acts also lagged behind the realities of life.

Many issues remained unresolved. For example, only some narcotic

preparations were controlled whereas the production of raw materials for

the making of synthetic drugs remained uncontrolled. The cultivation and

use of drug-bearing plants and other problems related to narcotics required

a legal regulation. In view of this, two important international acts were

worked out and approved within the United Nations framework. They were the

Uniform Convention on Drugs of 1961 amended later by the 1972 Protocol on

Drugs, and the United Nations Convention of 1988 which provided for action

against the illegal trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances.

One need not think however that the provisions of the earlier approved

acts were so out-dated that they required to be radically changed. The two

Conventions left intact therefore many time-tested provisions of the above-

cited documents. At present they form the main legal foundation for the

system helping exercise international cooperation and control over drugs.

The Uniform Convention of 1961:

The 1961 Uniform Convention regulates questions pertaining to the legal

use of drugs. Its adoption was a landmark in the development of relations

based on international law. The Convention is designed to promote decisive

actions against narcotics at the international level through the building

of a system of international cooperation and control over narcotics. In

fact, this one document is a substitute for all the previously accepted

international acts (with the exception of some points of the 1936

Convention). It diminished the number of international bodies in charge of

the control over narcotics, and established control over the production of

drug-bearing raw materials.

The participants in the Convention expressed the wish to sign a

universally accepted international convention to limit the use of narcotics

to medical and scientific purposes only and to maintain permanent

international cooperation in order to accomplish the principles and aims of

the Convention.

The parties to the Convention pledged to adopt not only necessary

legislative measures, as the case had been here-to fore, but also

administrative measures and to ensure fulfillment of the Convention's

decisions. They took upon themselves to limit the production, exportation,

importation, distribution, use, storage, and trade in narcotics and limit

their use and storage for medical purposes exclusively in order to diminish

sufferings and pain.

Instead of the previous four international agencies, which controlled

narcotics, the Convention authorized the formation of just two: the

Commission on Drugs under the UN Economic and Social Council and the newly

formed International Committee on Drug Control of the United Nations

Organization.

The Convention endowed these two bodies with broad authority.

The Commission on Drugs of the UN ECOSOC:

The Commission examines all issues that bear relation to the aims

proclaimed by the Uniform Convention. Every year it approves and amends the

List of substances, plants and preparations, the use, dissemination,

cultivation and storage of which is under international control. It

introduces corresponding changes and additions to the List and informs the

national governments. The Commission also informs the Committee of any

circumstances that may bear upon execution of its functions. Finally, it

issues recommendations concerning the implementation of the Convention's

aims and decisions, including the program of research and the exchange of

scientific and technical information.

For example, one of the recommendations calls for the need to provide

countries where the illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants is practiced

with an access to modern reconnaissance technology which makes it possible

to discover and then destroy such fields. This recommendation also calls

for the need to promote the economies of these countries so that their

farmers could earn a living by working at legal agricultural and other

enterprises; to combine steps against the illegal production and spread of

narcotics with the efforts to build a more just international order, give

help to third world countries in boosting their economies, developing their

traditional export industries and agriculture, and train specialists; to

regard programs for preventing drug addiction and curing drug addicts as

top priorities.28

Member countries may also be asked to submit their own recommendations.

These may include annual reports about the Convention's implementation on

their respective territories, texts of laws and rules passed with the aim

of implementing the Convention's provisions; names and addresses of

government agencies authorized to give permits for the exportation or

certificates for the importation of narcotics; or any other reports about

cases of illegal trafficking.

The UN Committee on Drug Control:

In accordance with the requirements of the 1961 Uniform Convention

(with amendments) the Committee consists of 13 members elected for the term

of 5 years. 3 members with medical, pharmaceutical and pharmacological

experience from the list of persons submitted by the WHO and 10 members-

from the list of persons submitted by countries belonging to the UN.

Persons recommended as members of the Committee have to meet special

requirements such as competence, non-involvement, impartiality,

trustworthiness and must have an awareness of the situation in the

countries where narcotics are produced, made and consumed.

The Committee performs important functions, which actually form the

essence of the system of international control over the legal use of

narcotics. They are:

- using the system of estimation of the countries' demand for drugs.

The countries concerned are obliged to submit the following annual

estimations written in special forms to the Committee: the quantity of

drugs used for medical and scientific purpose and for the preparation of

other narcotics, medicines and substances not covered by the given

Convention; the quantity of stored available narcotics as of December 31st

of the reported year; the size and the geographical position of the field

used for cultivating opium poppy and the approximate quantity of opium

expected to be obtained from it, and the number of enterprises producing

synthetic drugs and the quantity of such drugs produced at each enterprise;

- estimating the overall level of drugs produced and imported by any

country or territory throughout one year (quantity of drugs imported which

is above the reported figures cannot be permitted without a sanction from

the Committee);

- introducing a regulated order for endorsing the demand for drugs used

for medical purposes. To ensure a balance between the demand and supply of

opiates used in medicine, the Committee sends information with estimates of

the demand for these preparations to the country producing these drugs. The

country is to agree with these estimates and then decrease (or increase)

their production.

- using the system of statistical reports. The governments submit

statistical reports to the Committee about the production and preparation

of specific drugs, their use and consumption, their exportation and

importation, their detention, their stocks and fields used to cultivate

opium poppy and other data which allows the Committee to determine if

countries are abiding by the Convention's decisions and then take

appropriate measures to ensure their implementation and the accomplishment

of the control functions.

The Committee collects and analyzes information submitted to it by the

United Nations agencies, individual governments and international

organizations, including Interpol. This information features the

production, manufacture, modification, and consumption of drugs, as well as

international trade in them, supply and confiscation of drugs. The

Committee also points to the shortcomings in the arrangement of control

functions and offers recommendations as to how these shortcomings can be

dealt with. If need be, the Committee has the right to invite

representatives of any country to its meetings.

Upon getting the information that the target set by the Convention is

endangered in any country due to its failure to abide by the Convention's

decisions, the Committee has the right to ask for an explanation and also

to recommend adjustment measures. If a particular government fails to

provide a satisfactory explanation or to accept the adjustment measures

proposed by the Committee, the problem can be brought to the attention of

the involved parties, of the Council or the Commission. The involved party

may be recommended to stop the importation or exportation of narcotics to

given countries or territories for a specific period of time until the

Committee recognizes that the situation in that country has become

satisfactory.

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