International legal and policy frameworks

International drug control legal framework

The international drug control legal framework rests on three drug control Conventions, negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations:

The 1961 Convention aims to combat drug abuse by coordinated international action through two forms of intervention and control. First, it seeks to limit the possession, use, trade in, distribution, import, export, manufacture and production of drugs exclusively to medical and scientific purposes. Second, it combats drug trafficking thorugh international cooperation to deter and discourage drug traffickers.

The 1971 Convention establishes an international control system for psychotropic substances. It responded to the diversificatioon and expansion of the spectrum of drugs of abuse and introduced controls over a number of synthetic drugs according to their abuse potential on the one hand and their therapeutic value on the other.

The 1988 Convention contains measures against drug trafficking, including provisions against money laundering and the diversion of precusor chemicals. It provides for international cooperation through, for example, extradition of drug traffickers, controlled deliveries and transfer of proceedings.

International drug control bodies

The Commission on Narcotics Drugs, the International Narcotics Board and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are the main bodies responsible for international drug policy.

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the central policy-making body within the UN system for dealing with all drug related matters. It operates as one of the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The CND "analyses the world drug situation and develops proposals to strengthen the international drug control system to combat the world drug porblem," according to its description, and functions as the governing body of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), approving its budget and providing policy guidance on its activities. The fifty-three CND member states meet annually in Vienna, in sessions that are open to attendance by other countries, other UN agencies and NGOs with ECOSOC consultative status.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), established in 1968, is the independent and quasi-judical control organn for the implementation of the UN drug conventions. The Board consists of thirteen members - three elected from a list of candidates nominated by the WHO and ten from a list of nominated by governments. Nominations are presented to the ECOSOC and voted on by the fifty-four member states. The INCB publishes an annual report that is submitted to teh ECOSOC through the Commission on Narcotics Drugs. The report provides a survey of the drug control situation in various parts of the world.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, formerly United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) established in 1991, is the UN agency responsible for coordinating international drug control activities. It also hosts the INCB secretariat and serves as the secretariat of the CND. The UNODC is one of the ten cosponsor of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Within UNAIDS, UNODC is the lead agency for HIV/AIDS prevention and care among injecting drug users and in prison settings, and is also responsible for facilitating the development of a UN response to HIV and AIDS associated with human trafficking.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is also involved in the formulation of UN drug policy. Its role is however restricted to making recommendations to the CND, on the basis of health considerations, as to how a given substance should be categorized under the schedules of the 1961 and 1971 conventions. To accomplish this task, the WHO convenes an Expert Committee on Drug Dependence every two years.

A chronological timeline of major international drug policy developments has been developed by Transform Drug Policy Foundation.