Reports > The Fourth Report > CHAPTER THREE - A Brief History of the Regulation of Controlled Drugs >
United Nations Conventions
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3.27 |
Beginning with the 1912 Convention, successive international treaties had modified the systems of international control and the list of drugs controlled, notably by the addition of synthetic opiates and cannabis and cannabis resin. Whenever necessary, domestic law was amended to accommodate those changes. The 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (the 1961 Convention) replaced all the earlier international agreements governing the control of narcotic substances, including opiates, cocaine, cannabis and cannabis resin (but not lysergide (LSD) or amphetamines). It required national governments to place restrictions on particular narcotic drugs (including heroin, morphine, cocaine and cannabis), limiting their use to medical and scientific purposes. The UK ratified this Convention on 2nd September 1964 and the Dangerous Drugs Act 1964 enacted the provisions necessary for compliance. The Dangerous Drugs Act 1965 consolidated the Acts of 1951 and 1964. |
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3.28 |
Mr Alan Macfarlane is the current Chief Inspector of the Home Office Drugs Inspectorate. In evidence to the Inquiry, he explained that the 1961 Convention led very quickly to a much more organised approach to the licensing of the manufacture and wholesale supply of dangerous drugs and to improved compilation of statistical data for transmission to the United Nations (UN). The intention was for the UN to be in a position to monitor the use of dangerous drugs worldwide. |
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3.29 |
The problems arising from the misuse of LSD, amphetamines and other hallucinogens, which were outside the ambit of the 1961 Convention, were addressed domestically by the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act 1964 (the 1964 Act). The 1964 Act provided a measure of control by rendering unlawful the possession of amphetamines and certain other drugs, although it did not impose any regulatory controls on their prescribing or storage. Restrictions similar to those contained in the 1961 Convention were required by the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The UK ratified this Convention in 1986. |
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Continuing Problems with Diversion
