International Control of Narcotics

Abstract

Narcotic drugs came into widespread use in western medical practice during the latter part of the nineteenth century. They had, in their crude form, been known for their so-called beneficial effects for centuries and had been extensively used, both therapeutically and nontherapeutically, for their calming, intoxicating, and presumed curative properties. Their introduction, however, shortly led to their abuse, and it soon became necessary to try to limit their availability. Accordingly, control mechanisms were early established in most western countries, whose prime objective was the prevention of individual access to these drugs, except by medical prescription. The imperative demand for drugs by the addict and the impossibility of its satisfaction through legitimate channels, however, encouraged the growth of an extensive and lucrative illicit traffic; and if drugs could not thus be obtained domestically, they were procured in foreign countries where control was either nonexistent or less effective. As a result, even the most effective national control was rendered largely nugatory, and the campaign against narcotics abuse came to be recognized as a truly international problem. It was, in fact, the opium-smoking habit in China that led Theodore Roosevelt, in I908, to summon to Shanghai the first international gathering for the purpose of planning concerted government action against the abuse of narcotic drugs. It was not, strictly speaking, an international conference, but rather a commission to discuss the problem and recommend possible solutions; and its membership was comprised of those governments within whose far eastern territories opium smoking was a problem. This commission proceeded to lay the groundwork for the first international drug conference, which was held at The Hague and which concluded the first international instrument in this field, generally referred to as The Hague International Opium Convention of I912. This convention did not, unfortunately, meet with immediate success; signatures and ratifications were slow in forthcoming before World War I supervened in 1914 and halted all progress. The experience was, in fact, so disappointing, that at the war's conclusion, the victorious powers decided vigorously to underwrite the international campaign against narcotic drug abuse. To this end, two steps were taken: