Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

p> Measures that various governments tried to employ within their countries in the hope to "curb" drug addiction, so to speak, and ban, say, in Turkey or China, the non-medicinal use of drugs, failed to bring any positive results.

On top of that, programs against drug addiction required additional financial resources for treatment and social rehabilitation of addicts, medical personnel, curative medicines, and preventive measures by law enforcement agencies. Many countries lacked such financial resources. So, actions against drug abuse began crossing national boundaries. The awareness of a possible proliferation of drugs raised concern of the world public opinion and governments of many countries began pressing for the intensification of the rule of law on the international scene.

Consequently, an objective need arose to work out and put into practice joint inter-governmental agreements, adopt effective legal norms that would regulate international cooperation, enable countries to employ coordinated measures against drugs as a whole and its specific manifestations and to establish, as a result, both a domestic and international control over the use of narcotics and their consumption.

The first experiment of international control over narcotics and of measures against drug addiction at the international level dates back to the Shanghai Opium Commission held between February 5th and 26th 1909 in the city of Shanghai.

Shanghai Opium Commission of 1909:

This commission consisted of the representatives from 13 countries:
Russia, the USA, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Britain, France, China, Italy,
Japan, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal and Siam.

The commission attempted to work out measures that would block the illegal flow of drugs from the regions of Asia to European countries and the United States. It also discussed questions related to opium smoking and to international trade in opium derivatives.

In the long run, however, no constructive measures were produced.
Documents issued by the commission contained no specific bans even on opium smoking. Members of the commission thought it was sufficient to only speak about its regulation and gradual restriction.

Nevertheless, the work of the Shanghai opium commission of 1909 played a significant role. Officially it marked the beginning of actions against drug addiction at the international level and to the launching of a system of international control over the spread of drugs. It also mapped out directions for the future international legislation in resolving problems reviewed in Shanghai.

A further advancement in combating drugs was made in the Hague at the
International Opium Conference held from December 1st 1911 to January 23d
1912. Representatives of 12 countries took part in it (the same as in
Shanghai excluding Austria-Hungary). The conference prepared and adopted the first convention on drugs (known as the Hague Convention). As a follow up to the Shanghai Commission, in terms of ideas, the conference proclaimed the timeliness of actions against narcotics as a whole and its specific trends.

The Hague Convention of 1912:
The Hague convention of 1912 was the first to define the specific types of drugs, which were put under international control. They were raw opium, smoke opium, medicinal opium, morphine, cocaine and a few others. The contracting parties took pledges of both domestic and international nature upon themselves to adopt national laws establishing control over the production and distribution of raw opium, and at barring its illegal imports and exports without permits granted by specially authorized persons; to take steps towards gradually halting the production, domestic trade and use of smoke opium and introducing a ban on its imports and exports; to use narcotic substances (medicinal opium, morphine and cocaine) only for medicinal and "other reasonable purposes"; to ensure a legal regulation of the production of morphine, cocaine, medicinal opium, heroin and their derivatives and also of trade in these narcotic substances; to adopt appropriate laws (if they are not adopted yet) or change existing laws concerning the responsibility and punishment of persons guilty of acts involving the illegal possession of drugs.

The provision concerning the legal regulation of the production of morphine and its derivatives and trade in them (cocaine, medicinal opium and heroin) was an important step. It was an attempt to use preventive measures such as foreseeing the establishment of international control over narcotic substances, which could appear in the future without their prior concrete mentioning in the Convention's text.

The significant feature about the Convention was that it not only proclaimed the need for cooperation among countries in establishing control over the use of narcotics but also outlined what needed to be accomplished.
One of these accomplishments was the duty of countries to exchange, via the
Dutch government, texts of legal acts and statistics on drugs.

The 1912 Hague Convention, however, failed to bring practical results, largely because of World War I, which began soon after the passing of the
Convention. It was put into force only with the signing of the Versailles and other peace treaties which specified that their ratification was tantamount to the ratification of the 1912 Hague Convention on drugs.

International documents approved following the Hague Convention just filled in the gaps and developed its provisions. The need for such documents was prompted by the continuous expansion of drug addiction, and of the illegal trade and smuggling of various narcotics. These documents are kept within the demands of the present problems that had been approved at the international level. They had defined more precisely and expanded the range of questions pertaining to the regulation of the issue on the basis of international law. They also involved more and more countries concerned about combating narcotics.

The growing threat from narcotics was evident from a series of international acts on drugs. Apart from that, however, the passing of these acts marked an important stage in international relations. They affirmed the principle that international law was bound to help organize and ensure control over drugs. The case in point was the Agreement banning the production, domestic trade and use of refined opium. It was signed on
February 11th 1925 at the Geneva Opium conference.

Following the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty and the founding of the League of Nations this conference was the first to discuss the issue of narcotics.

Its official program envisaged the development of measures to implement the decisions of the 1912 Hague Convention to limit and eliminate the production, domestic trade and use of smoke opium. But according to juridical literature, the Conference in reality expressed the latent interests of the colonial powers- the signatories of the above mentioned
Agreement.

The Geneva Conference of 1925 Agreement of February 11th, 1925:

The Agreement provided for the establishment of monopoly associations on the territories and domains controlled by these powers to deal with the opium turnover, for handing over the production of smoke opium to the state monopoly, as well as conducting anti-opium propaganda.

The general control over the implementation of the Agreement's provisions concerning the trade in opium was placed upon the League of
Nations- an international body set up in accordance with the Versailles peace treaty.

One of the provisions of this Agreement stipulated the need to study the state of control over smoke opium in the Far East. This study was carried out, practically for the first time in world practice, by a Special
Commission appointed by the League of Nations Assembly in 1928.

The results of the study were examined in Bangkok and paved the way for the signing of the Bangkok Agreement of November 27th 1931, which banned opium smoking. The Agreement entered into force only in April 1937.

The Bangkok Agreement of 1931:
The Bangkok Agreement added some new provisions to the Geneva Agreement of
11th February 1925. These new provisions made retail trade in opium possible only by government institutions; established criminal offence for persons under 21 years of age who visited opium dens; legally regulated the sale of smoke opium for cash and so on and so forth.

However, prior to the Bangkok Agreement, in view of the deterioration of the drug situation in the world in the postwar period, the second Geneva
Opium Conference passed an Opium Convention that was signed in Geneva on
19th February 1925 and entered into force in September 1928.

The Opium Convention of 1925:

It underlined that there was no way to end drug abuse and drug smuggling unless the production of those drugs was reduced considerably and a more stringent control over their international trade was introduced than the one stipulated by the 1912 Hague convention.

For this end, the 1925 Convention stipulated some legal and organizational measures against drug abuse both at the international and domestic levels.

This Convention confirmed the principles of the 1912 Hague Convention and, what is more, it firmly established that drugs could be produced only for the legal purposes of states, having defined what these legal purposes were. Of principal importance was the decision to put several more kinds of raw materials which drugs could be produced from (coca leaves, raw cocaine, and cannabis) on the list of the controlled substances (in addition to the ones named by the 1912 Hague Convention). Moreover, the Convention was applicable to any substance, which, in accordance with the conclusion drawn by an authorized body, could cause the same harmful consequences as the substances listed in the Convention.

To exercise domestic control over narcotic substances the parties to the Convention agreed to the following pledges: to pass national laws that would ensure the control over the production, dissemination and exportation of raw opium and to systematically revise and toughen those to the extent that the articles of the Convention would require; to limit the use, production, importation, sale, distribution, export, and application of narcotics exclusively to medical and scientific purposes; to exercise control over the activities of persons who were allowed to produce, import, export, sell, distribute and use drugs and also to exercise control over premises where these persons work with drugs or traded in them; to curtail the number of ports, cities and other populated centers where the importation and exportation of narcotics would be permitted and to pass through and adopt domestic legislation that would envisage punitive measures for the violations of the Convention's provisions.

To exercise international control over narcotic substances the
Convention stipulated adoption of the following measures: to introduce a system of evaluation and estimation of a country's domestic need in narcotics for medical, scientific and other purposes in the up-coming year; to hand in statistics connected with drugs (in a special form and at definite periods of time); to establish control over international trade in drugs and to also establish firm rules for the importation and exportation of drugs (to import and export narcotics only if there is a special written permission, as outlined by the Convention; to regulate the order of transit shipments and the storage of drugs at stores of third countries to prevent their possible leakage from the legal circulation during their shipments and storage); to establish control over the compliance with all commitments taken by the countries- parties to the Convention; to place the exercise of that control on a newly organized international body called the Permanent
Central Committee (later its official name changed several times, although most of the time, it was known as "The Permanent Central Committee on
Narcotic Substances").

The Convention also stressed the need for cooperation between countries in preventing the use of narcotic substances for purposes other than designated. It stipulated that the exchange of information about laws and decisions on the implementation of the proclaimed principles (using the services of Secretary General) would be a concrete form of this cooperation.

To put it in a nutshell, the Convention defined the content and forms of realization of international control over narcotics. It introduced a system of licensing and recording foreign trade operations of drugs and obliged the member countries to submit detailed statistics about such operations.

The convention on the limitation of production and the regulation of the distribution of narcotic substances signed on July 13th 1931 in Geneva proved to be another link in the international control system.

The Convention of 1931:

That Convention meant to introduce amendments to the two already existing conventions in force, those of 1912 and of 1925. It contained the following additions: uniform definition of notions, through the control 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.

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