1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was adopted by consensus at a conference in Vienna in 1988. The Convention aimed to provide more effective weapons against the illicit drug trade, which had become a growing concern due to the influence of organized crime groups. The Convention is an instrument of international criminal law, designed to globally harmonize national criminal laws and enforcement actions to decrease illicit drug trafficking by criminalization and punishment.

1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances expanded the scope of international drug control to include synthetic drugs

1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs marked a shift in the international community's approach to drug control, moving beyond simply regulating the production and trade of drugs to focus on individual drug users.

the outbreak of World War II and the subsequent transfer of the League's drug control bodies to the United States marked a shift in the balance of power, paving the way for the United States to play a crucial role in shaping the emerging post-war world order, including international drug control.

1990s and 2000s saw a shift towards a more nuanced approach to drug control, with a greater emphasis on harm reduction and public health.

1980s, the international community continued to grapple with the issue of drug abuse and trafficking, leading to the formulation of the International Drug Abuse Control Strategy and the development of new treaties and soft law instruments.

reflected the influence of Western manufacturing countries, which sought to protect their commercial interests. The 1972 Amending Protocol to the Single Convention strengthened the international drug control system, but maintained its prohibitive ethos and supply-side focus. The Protocol expanded provisions for treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention measures, but did not fundamentally change the Single Convention.

focused on regulating the licit trade, which inevitably led to the development of an illegal market.

1936 Trafficking Convention sought to strengthen the existing transnational legal framework, but its complexity and encroachment upon legal areas considered sovereign by many states meant it failed to win widespread acceptance.

1931 Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs introduced a proscriptive manufacturing limitation system, where parties were required to provide estimates of national drug requirements to the Drug Supervisory Body (DSB).

1925 International Opium Convention established a standardized import-export certification system to regulate drug movements between parties and included cannabis within a multilateral treaty for the first time.

international drug control system began in 1909 with the Shanghai Opium Commission, which aimed to address the "opium problem." The commission's recommendations led to the first legally binding multilateral treaty in 1912, which restricted opium use to medical purposes.

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) focused on punishing users in the informal market, while largely ignoring the medical market. This led to a misreading of the situation, where authorities attributed the success of the medical market to the "good customers" rather than the more humane and effective policies. As a result, the medical market remained relatively invisible, and its lessons were not applied to future drug policy.

nhance the stigma of addiction and preserve his bureau's budget.

rise of heroin use

addiction as a moral failing rather than a disease. The law also led to the criminalization of drug use, with many people being arrested and imprisoned for drug-related offenses. The punitive approach to drug control was driven by a native-born Protestant desire to police and control non-white communities, and it was accompanied by public demonization of drug users and sellers.

African Americans in the South,

new drug crises were already brewing in both licit and illicit markets by the 1950s.

divide was fueled by anxieties about race, class, and sexuality,

esponse to the public health consequences of rising opioid and cocaine use in the late 19th century.

The Act was intended to gather information

Webb-Kenyon Act, which prohibited shipments of liquor to states that prohibited its sale. The prohibition movement gained strength, and in 1917, the House passed a Prohibition resolution, which eventually became part of the Constitution.

The public and congressmen believed that narcotics, including opiates and cocaine, had no value except as medicine and were associated with foreigners or alien subgroups.

n the early 20th century, the medical profession had a high rate of addiction, with around 2% of physicians being addicts.

practical significance of the law was still debated among the groups affected, and there was no general agreement on what would be the desirable or actual enforcement of the law.

The law was the result of international pressure, particularly from the Hague Convention, and was seen as a way to redeem the American government's international pledges.

law required records to be kept of all narcotics transactions, and copies of these records were to be kept by district internal revenue offices.

The AMA favored restrictive legislation, but also wanted to ensure that any bill had a maximum chance of passage. After several revisions, the Harrison Act was finally passed in December 1914.

Executive Committee to monitor the status of the legislation and make revisions.

he American Pharmaceutical Association called for a National Drug Trade Conference (NDTC) to bring together representatives from various trade associations to discuss the proposed legislation.

worked with Representative Francis Burton Harrison, a Democrat, to introduce a bill that would eliminate the use of narcotics except for medical purposes.

912, Hamilton Wright returned to the United States with the goal of increasing support for the International Opium Convention and ensuring the passage of domestic legislation to control narcotics.

The Hague Opium Convention was an international conference held in 1911-1912, where 12 nations gathered to discuss the regulation of opium and other drugs.

Dr. Wright believed that the Shanghai meeting gave the United States a moral obligation to appear with a clean slate before asking other nations to enact drastic legislation.

The resolutions included calls for the gradual suppression of opium smoking, the reexamination of national laws, and the control of morphine and other opium derivatives. The commission also recommended that nations not export opium to countries whose laws prohibit its importation. The meeting was significant because it marked the beginning of an American tradition in narcotic control, which emphasized the enactment of strict domestic legislation as an example to other nations.

he Shanghai Opium Commission was a meeting of 13 nations, including the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, that convened on February 1, 1909, to discuss the opium problem.

Dr. Wright launched a national survey to collect information on the use of opium and its derivatives in the United States, and the State Department requested federal anti-narcotic legislation before the Shanghai meeting. This led to the passage of the first federal antinarcotic legislation in 1909, which banned the importation of smoking opium.

in the United States, there was growing concern about the opium trade and its impact on China.

The US government faced opposition from anti-opium groups,

The US acquired the Philippines in 1898, following the Spanish-American War, and with it, an opium problem.