Appendix 1: Excerpts from the UN drug control conventions

1. SINGLE CONVENTION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS, 1961,
AS AMENDED BY THE 1972 PROTOCOL (EXTRACT)¹

¹ Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961. New York, United Nations, 1977, pp. 17- 18.

Article 3

CHANGES IN THE SCOPE OF CONTROL

1. Where a Party or the World Health Organization has information which in its opinion may require an amendment to any of the Schedules, it shall notify the Secretary-General and furnish him with the information in support of the notification.

2. The Secretary-General shall transmit such notification, and any information which he considers relevant, to the Parties, to the Commission [on Narcotic Drugs], and, where the notification is made by a Party, to the World Health Organization.

3. Where a notification relates to a substance not already in Schedule I or in Schedule II,

(i) the Parties shall examine in the light of the available information the possibility of the provisional application to the substance of all measures of control applicable to drugs in Schedule I;

(ii) pending its decision as provided in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph, the Commission may decide that the Parties apply provisionally to that substance all measures of control applicable to drugs in Schedule I. The Parties shall apply such measures provisionally to the substance in question;

(iii) if the World Health Organization finds that the substance is liable to similar abuse and productive of similar ill effects as the drugs in Schedule I or Schedule II or is convertible into a drug, it shall communicate that finding to the Commission which may, in accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization, decide that the substance shall be added to Schedule I or Schedule II.

4. If the World Health Organization finds that a preparation, because of the substances which it contains, is not liable to abuse and cannot produce ill effects (paragraph 3) and that the drug therein is not readily recoverable, the Commission may, in accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization, add that preparation to Schedule III.

5. If the World Health Organization finds that a drug in Schedule I is particularly liable to abuse and to produce ill effects (paragraph 3) and that such liability is not offset by substantial therapeutic advantages not possessed by substances other than drugs in Schedule IV, the Commission may, in accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization, place that drug in Schedule IV.

6. Where a notification relates to a drug already in Schedule I or Schedule II or to a preparation in Schedule III, the Commission, apart from the measure provided for in paragraph 5, may, in accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization, amend any of the Schedules by:

(a) transferring a drug from Schedule I to Schedule II or from Schedule II to Schedule I; or

(b) deleting a drug or a preparation as the case may be, from a Schedule.

7. Any decision of the Commission taken pursuant to this article shall be communicated by the Secretary-General to all States Members of the United Nations, to non-Member States Parties to this Convention, to the World Health Organization and to the [International Narcotics Control] Board. Such decision shall become effective with respect to each Party on the date of its receipt of such communication, and the Parties shall thereupon take such action as may be required under this Convention.

8. (a) The decisions of the Commission amending any of the Schedules shall be subject to review by the [Economic and Social] Council upon the request of any Party filed within ninety days from receipt of notification of the decision. The request for review shall be sent to the Secretary-General together with all relevant information upon which the request for review is based;

(b) The Secretary-General shall transmit copies of the request for review and relevant information to the Commission, the World Health Organization and to all the Parties inviting them to submit comments within ninety days. All comments received shall be submitted to the Council for consideration;

(c) The Council may confirm, alter or reverse the decision of the Commission, and the decision of the Council shall be final. Notification of the Council=s decision shall be transmitted to all States Members of the United Nations, to non-Member States Parties to this Convention, to the Commission, to the World Health Organization, and to the Board;

(d) During pendency of the review the original decision of the Commission shall remain in effect.

9. Decisions of the Commission taken in accordance with this article shall not be subject to the review procedure provided for in article 7.

2. CONVENTION ON PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES, 1971 (EXTRACTS)¹

¹ Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971. New York, United Nations, 1977, pp. 9 and 12-13.

Article 2

SCOPE OF CONTROL OF SUBSTANCES

4. If the World Health Organization finds:

(a) that the substance has the capacity to produce

(i) (1) a state of dependence, and

(2) central nervous system stimulation or depression, resulting in hallucinations or disturbances in motor function or thinking or behaviour or perception or mood, or

(ii) similar abuse and similar ill effects as a substance in Schedule I, II, III or IV, and

(b) that there is sufficient evidence that the substance is being or is likely to be abused so as to constitute a public health and social problem warranting the placing of the substance under international control, the World Health Organization shall communicate to the Commission [on Narcotic Drugs] an assessment of the substance, including the extent or likelihood of abuse, the degree of seriousness of the public health and social problem and the degree of usefulness of the substance in medical therapy, together with recommendations on control measures, if any, that would be appropriate in the light of its assessment.

Article 3

SPECIAL PROVISIONS REGARDING THE CONTROL OF PREPARATIONS

1. Except as provided in the following paragraphs of this article, a preparation is subject to the same measures of control as the psychotropic substance which it contains, and, if it contains more than one such substance, to the measures applicable to the most strictly controlled of those substances.

2. If a preparation containing a psychotropic substance other than a substance in Schedule I is compounded in such a way that it presents no, or a negligible, risk of abuse and the substance cannot be recovered by readily applicable means in quantity liable to abuse, so that the preparation does not give rise to a public health and social problem, the preparation may be exempted from certain of the measures of control provided in this Convention in accordance with paragraph 3.

3. If a party makes a finding under the preceding paragraph regarding a preparation, it may decide to exempt the preparation, in its country or in one of its regions, from any or all of the measures of control provided in this Convention except the requirements of:

(a) article 8 (licenses), as it applies to manufacture;

(b) article 11 (records), as it applies to exempt preparations;

(c) article 13 (prohibition of and restrictions on export and import);

(d) article 15 (inspection), as it applies to manufacture;

(e) article 16 (reports to be furnished by the Parties), as it applies to exempt preparations; and

(f) article 22 (penal provisions), to the extent necessary for the repression of acts contrary to laws or regulations adopted pursuant to the foregoing obligations.

A Party shall notify the Secretary-General of any such decision, of the name and composition of the exempt preparation, and of the measures of control from which it is exempted. The Secretary-General shall transmit the notification to the other Parties, to the World Health Organization and to the [International Narcotics Control] Board.

4. If a Party or the World Health Organization has information regarding a preparation exempted pursuant to paragraph 3 which in its opinion may require the termination, in whole or in part, of the exemption, it shall notify the Secretary-General and furnish him with the information in support of the notification. The Secretary-General shall transmit such notification, and any information which he considers relevant, to the Parties, to the Commission and, when the notification is made by a Party, to the World Health Organization. The World Health Organization shall communicate to the Commission an assessment of the preparation in relation to the matters specified in paragraph 2, together with a recommendation of the control measures, if any, from which the preparation should cease to be exempted. The Commission, taking into account the communication from the World Health Organization, whose assessment shall be determinative as to medical and scientific matters, and bearing in mind the economic, social, legal, administrative and other factors it may consider relevant, may decide to terminate the exemption of the preparation from any or all control measures. Any decision of the Commission taken pursuant to this paragraph shall be communicated by the Secretary-General to all States Members of the United Nations, to non-Member States Parties to this Convention, to the World Health Organization and to the Board. All Parties shall take measures to terminate the exemption from the control measure or measures in question within 180 days of the date of the Secretary-General=s communication.

3. UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST ILLICIT TRAFFIC IN NARCOTIC DRUGS AND PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES, 1988 (EXTRACTS)¹

¹ United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988. Vienna, United Nations, 1994, pp. 24-26

Article 12

SUBSTANCES FREQUENTLY USED IN THE ILLICIT MANUFACTURE OF NARCOTIC DRUGS OR PSYCHOTROPIC SUBSTANCES

1. The Parties shall take the measures they deem appropriate to prevent diversion of substances in Table I and Table II used for the purpose of illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, and shall co-operate with one another to this end.

2. If a Party or the Board has information which in its opinion may require the inclusion of a substance in Table I or Table II, it shall notify the Secretary-General and furnish him with the information in support of that notification. The procedure described in paragraphs 2 to 7 of this article shall also apply when a Party or the Board has information justifying the deletion of a substance from Table I or Table II, or the transfer of a substance from one Table to the other.

3. The Secretary-General shall transmit such notification, and any information which he considers relevant, to the Parties, to the Commission, and, where notification is made by a Party, to the Board. The Parties shall communicate their comments concerning the notification to the Secretary-General, together with all supplementary information which may assist the Board in establishing an assessment and the Commission in reaching a decision.

4. If the Board, taking into account the extent, importance and diversity of the licit use of the substance, and the possibility and ease of using alternate substances both for licit purposes and for the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, finds:

(a) That the substance is frequently used in the illicit manufacture of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance;

(b) That the volume and extent of the illicit manufacture of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance creates serious public health or social problems, so as to warrant international action, it shall communicate to the Commission an assessment of the substance, including the likely effect of adding the substance to either Table I or Table II on both licit use and illicit manufacture, together with recommendations of monitoring measures, if any, that would be appropriate in the light of its assessment.

5. The Commission, taking into account the comments submitted by the Parties and the comments and recommendations of the Board, whose assessment shall be determinative as to scientific matters, and also taking into due consideration any other relevant factors, may decide by a two-thirds majority of its members to place a substance in Table I or Table II.

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