United Nations Drug Conventions Research Articles

Medicolegal Issues with Reference to NDPS and MHCA in Management and Rehabilitation of Persons with Substance Use Disorders.

Medicolegal Issues with Reference to NDPS and MHCA in Management and Rehabilitation of Persons with Substance Use Disorders.

Deadly serious: The United Nations, drugs, and capital punishment in the 1980s

BackgroundResearch into capital punishment has focussed on the length of time it will take to abolish. It will take decades or centuries. A key moment in the movement to abolish the death penalty was the 1980s when the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR was developed. This was also the decade that the last significant changes were made to the United Nations drug conventions. At the time, awareness of the issue of capital punishment for drug offences was increasing around the world as more people were getting executed. This article looks at how western countries and the United Nations responded to Malaysia which introduced the mandatory death penalty for drug offences in 1982. MethodsOver 30,000 pages of documents have been accessed through the National Archives of Australia in Canberra. These have been photographed, scanned and converted to OCR. The most relevant folders have then been analysed through NVivo 12 to look for relevant mentions of the research question: capital punishment and Malaysia. All probative data is then presented in the article. ResultsThe data from National Archives suggests that the UN, Australia, and other western countries were happy to continue supporting Malaysia's drug policy and to elect it to high positions at UN meetings despite their public proclamations that they were opposed to the death penalty. ConclusionApplying a critical juncture approach, the article concludes that the 1980s was a critical juncture in the movement to abolish the death penalty but abolitionist countries allowed capital punishment to continue for drug offences. This may have set back the abolition movement by decades.

The complex and constantly evolving public health threat of new psychoactive substances in Italy: addressing the main functions of a national observatory of drugs.

At the end of the 90s in Europe, the new psychoactive substances (NPS) phenomenon was limited to a small number of molecules created to mimic the actions and psychoactive effects of licensed medicines and existing drugs that are controlled by the United Nations drug conventions and therefore traded as their "legal" replacements. NPS were mostly circulating in rave parties and electronic music festivals. The globalization, the evolution of e-commerce and the growing popularity of NPS, facilitated the development of a wide illegal market in constant expansion. The dynamic nature of this phenomenon has led to an evolution in the prevention and monitoring of NPS trafficking within the European Union. The European legislative system has been amended with the aim of creating a faster and more effective regulatory system to tackle NPS diffusion and ban their sale and circulation. At the end of 2008, in compliance with the European Council Decision 2005/387/JHA, the Anti-Drug Policies Department of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers activated the National Early Warning System to promote a rapid exchange of information on NPS between Italy and the EU.

Usages de substances de synthèse en France et en Europe

This paper aims to present the main information presented at the 9th Meeting about addictovigilance in 2016 by four healthcare professionals and addiction experts on the issue of new psychoactive substance use. A new psychoactive substance (NPS) is defined as a narcotic or psychotropic drug, in pure form or in preparation, that is not controlled by the United Nations drug conventions, but which may pose a public health threat comparable to that posed by substances listed in these conventions. The emergence of NPS consumption is a worldwide concern. Although NPS are less consumed than established drugs, there has been a sharp increase in their use over the last few years, notably of synthetic cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids and, more recently, synthetic opioids. The latter in particular are involved in deaths in Europe. However, "established" drugs (MDMA [methylenedioxymethamphetamine], amphetamines, LSD, methamphetamine) are far from being dethroned by the more recent substances: they are considered "a safe bet" already "tried and tested" by many consumers over the years. MDMA, in particular, also known as ecstasy, which has been used as a recreational drug since the 1990s, saw its consumption decrease until 2010, and then increase again, especially in higher amounts; inexpensive and easily accessible, it is increasingly associated with emergency admissions or deaths in France. The perpetual appearance of new substances on the drug market is obligating to improve knowledge on these products, particularly by focusing on their analytical identification, and also by monitoring their use and harms.

Comparison of legislative management for new psychoactive substances control among Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

For decades, the three United Nations drug conventions have served as the basis for member states' obligations and international cooperation on drug control. However, the emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) poses a new risk to public health and a challenge to drug policy because of their unknown toxicological effects and easy modification of chemical structures to shun legal control. So far, there is no international consensus on legislative control of NPSs. Therefore, we compared the legislative management on NPS control among Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Drug-related information was obtained from the authorities of these three countries. The results indicate that despite geographic proximity and similar legal attitudes toward illegal drug use, the legislative criteria, and responses for NPS control in these three countries were quite different. Ketamine has been the major used NPS in Taiwan but seldom found in South Korea and Japan. The difference in the number of controlled NPSs in Taiwan (91) and South Korea (245) might be due to the implementation of temporary designation systems and analog controls in South Korea. The recent surge of newly controlled NPSs in Japan was because of the promulgation of designated drug regulation and subsequent control of "dangerous drugs." Although NPS use has become a potential social and medical problem among these three countries, the outcomes of NPS legislation control remain to be scrutinized. To minimize harm from NPS use, development of legislative mechanism(s) on NPS scheduling is the first step for early identification and control of NPS problems.

Assessing the content of a synthetic cannabinoid “research chemical” package

Introduction: Over the past several years, a new class of psychoactive substances has emerged from the drug market.[1–3] These Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are defined as “a new narcotic or psychotropic drug, in pure form or in preparation, that is not controlled by the United Nations drug conventions, but which may pose a public health threat comparable to that posed by substances listed in these conventions” [1]. The largest and most popular group of NPS is Synthetic Cannabinoids (SC). SC are used as a ‘legal’ alternative to Cannabis, which means that they produce similar psychotropic effects to those of Δ9-THC. These substances are easily bought on internet shops and both blends or ‘research chemicals’ come in packets [2,3]. These packets are advertised as containing a certain SC pure. Usually, pure substances from synthesis are very expensive. On contrary, SC 1g packets are sold for 10€ or less. In the present study, a SC called THJ-018 was bought in the internet as a ‘research chemical’ and its content was assessed by GC/MS and HPLC/DAD. Materials and methods: THJ-018 was bought as a ‘research chemical’ >99% purity. A gas chromatography system coupled with a mass selective detector and an automated injector were used for the analysis of the packet content. Helium was used as the carrier gas. For purification a HPLC system coupled with a photodiode array detector (DAD) and an autosampler, operated by Clarity software, was used with a reversed-phase column. The mobile phase was a solvent gradient system consisting of (A) 5% 10mM ammonia format and (B) 95% acetonitrile, optimized to achieve the best resolution. The chromatograms were recorded at λ = 320 nm. Results: Figure 1 shows the GC/MS chromatogram of methanol extract of THJ-018. It is clear from the chromatogram the presence of two peaks: THJ-018 (33,072 min) and another compound (31,952 min). Figure 1. GC/MS analysis of THJ-018 before purification by HPLC/DAD. Discussion and conclusions: The data gathered in this study shows that THJ-018 bought as a pure “research chemical” contains a significant amount of impurities. This suggests that SC bought online might not come in their pure state. According to Couceiro et al. [3], human cell lines exposed to JWH-018 (>99% pure), do not show a significant change on cell viability, pointing that this compound is not toxic as a standard. However, various effects resulting from an acute SC intoxication have been registered, such as cognitive deficits, agitation/violent behaviors, organ related problems, nausea/vomiting, seizures, anxiety, mydriasis, among others [2]. This might be pointing that substances sold online or at the streets do not come in a pure form and impurities are also part of the problems caused by NPS.

A Higher Authority: Canada's Cannabis Legalization in the Context of International Law

Recreational cannabis is being decriminalized, deregulated and even legalized across a growing number of jurisdictions throughout the world. This article addresses the international law and policy implications of this trend, examining three international law frameworks — the drug control and anti-trafficking framework of the United Nations drug conventions, international human rights law, and the international economic law regime, in which the World Trade Organization (WTO) is central. In this article, we use Canada’s legal regime for cannabis liberalization as a case study that illuminates the tensions, but also the unexplored complementarities, between the different international legal regimes or orders that affect cannabis legalization. We argue that although the drug conventions appear to provide unequivocal requirements for drug criminalization, a closer read of the treaty texts suggest otherwise, particularly when read together with the international human rights obligations. At the same time, international economic law, which has largely been ignored in the discussion of cannabis legalization, demonstrates certain inconsistencies with the Canadian cannabis legalization scheme that must be taken into account in further legalization efforts by other states.

NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES AS A CRIME OBJECT

A new psychoactive substance is defined as a new narcotic or psychotropic drug, in pure form or in preparation, that is not controlled by the United Nations drug conventions (1961, 1971), but which may pose a public health threat comparable to that posed by substances listed in these conventions. The author researched and analyzed: 1.History of new psychoactive substances in Latvia; 2.Legislative approaches for restricting new psychoactive substances in Latvia; 3.Advantages and disadvantages of criminal liability against new psychoactive substances in Latvia.

Cytotoxic Effects of Salvinorin A, A Major Constituent of Salvia divinorum.

S. divinorum is a psychoactive plant that has been consumed as a recreational drug of abuse in the last years. Salvinorin A is its main constituent, and is responsible for the observed psychoactive effects. Both S. divinorum and salvinorin A have become controlled drugs in several countries, but they are not listed in the Schedules of the United Nations Drug Conventions. Regarding the effects of S. divinorum consumption, almost all studies are based on in vivo or on surveys, and there are no studies in vitro on its toxicity. Furthermore, all studies are focused on the acute toxicological effects of the plant. So, it is of utmost importance to further investigate the effects of S. divinorum and salvinorin A, particularly using in vitro models, after prolonged exposures. In this context, the present work evaluated the in vitro toxicity induced by S. divinorum or salvinorin A in six cell lines, through MTT assays and LC50 determination. Overall, results showed that both S. divinorum and salvinorin A are cytotoxic, dose- and time-dependent. Also, Hep G2 and Caco 2 (to a lesser extent) cells showed lower sensitivity to S. divinorum and salvinorin A when compared to the other studied cell lines. To our knowledge, this is the first work focused on the in vitro toxicity of S. divinorum and salvinorin A using a variety of cell lines, which are extensively described in literature and have been widely used in several in vitro studies.

Legal Highs, Lethal Lows

Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS), sometimes referred to as Legal Highs, are newly available drugs with psychoactive properties that are not currently prohibited by United Nations Drug Conventions. Despite many of these compounds still being ‘legal’ and readily available via online mail-order companies and high-street ‘headshops’, their rapid emergence in the UK has been associated with increasing hospital admissions, enquiries on TOXBASE® and fatalities. It is therefore vital that Acute Physicians have a good understanding of the issues in recognizing, investigating and managing patients presenting to the AMU with toxicity due to legal highs. This article outlines the classification and effects of various novel psychoactive substances and presents a strategy for management according to the prevailing toxidrome.

«War on Drugs»y«hate crimes» Acercamiento histórico-legislativo y adaptación de las convenciones antidrogas en Indochina: internamiento forzoso de «Drug users»

Tras más de seis décadas del inicio de la mal denominada «war on drugs», las Convenciones Antidrogas (CA) perseveran en la línea trazada pese a su constatada ineficacia y conflictos entre los diferentes Estados signatarios. De la lectura de la Convención Única de 1961 (CU) y de las consecuentes legislaciones internas, comprobaremos que taxativamente se han sobrepasado los límites de la propia Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos (DUDH), mediante la criminalización y consecuente discriminación per se, hacia los pequeños productores y consumidores tradicionales o voluntarios, resultando así estos, de iure, víctimas directas de «delitos de odio». Consecuencia directa de esta discriminación internacional, son las conocidas desorbitadas cifras económicas que rodean el mundo del narcotráfico, refugiadas bajo el conocido secreto bancario que año tras año, colaboran al sostenimiento y fortalecimiento del crimen organizado. Sin obviar el denotado animus negocialis de la industria farmacéutica, monopolizada de lex lata, mediante la restricción internacional a la producción y consumo voluntarios o tradicionales, trataremos de exponer, como la comunidad internacional fijó unos objetivos de imposible cumplimiento, sin respetar su propio ius naturale, dando lugar a disparidad de interpretaciones y contundentes legislaciones, como las de la región Indochina, en las que las medidas de prevención y rehabilitación se confunden con la prisión permanente. After more than six decades since the beginning of the wrongly denominated «war on drugs» against the widespread consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, United Nations Drug Conventions persevere –and this despite their proven ineffectiveness of persecution against a diffused enemy and severe conflicts of interests among the signatory states. A reading of the 1961 Convention (SC ) and the consequent legislation shows that limits of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) itself have been clearly exceeded. Proof of this is the criminalization, and consequent discrimination per se, of small producers and traditional or voluntary consumers of some of the substances prohibited in the Drug Conventions– being as a result de iure direct victims of «hate crimes». A direct result of this international discrimination are the exorbitant sums surrounding the world of drug trafficking, sheltered under the well-known bank secrecy in tax havens, which year after year collaborate in the maintenance and reinforcement of organized crime. All this without forgetting the so-called animus negocialis of the pharmaceutical industry, monopolized by international restriction of production and of voluntary or traditional consumption. With this study, we try to expose how the international communities have fixed some excessive goals, without taking into account the resulting collateral damage and without guaranteeing the respect of their own jus naturale, which can lead to numerous possible interpretations in the different legislations –like in Indochina, where prevention and rehabilitation centers are often understood as livelong imprisonment.

The international drug control regime’s straight jacket: are there any policy options?

All societies have to control individual behaviors that are considered as socially damaging. The use of mind altering drugs is one such behavior. These controls have always been determined locally but in the 20th Century an international drug control regime was developed that established a globally unified normative control system formulated in the three United Nations drug conventions. The global normative system is based on a prohibitionist paradigm. The international norms are very difficult to change and impose strong restrictions on the ways in which countries may manage addictive mind altering drugs. The essay surveys the development of the international drug control regime, identifies its main characteristics and makes a naive proposal to manage the consumption of those drugs through an insurance system aimed at minimizing the sum of the social costs generated by drug addiction and anti-drug policies.

REVISITING SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES' DRUG PROBLEMS: HEALTH, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC COSTS, AND DRUG CONTROL POLICY

This article takes an international perspective on the drug problem in sub-Saharan Africa. This analysis borrows ideas from physical and economic geography as a heuristic device to conceptualize the global narcoscapes in which drug trafficking occurs. Both the legitimate and the illegal drug trade operate within the same global capitalist system and draw on the same technological innovations and business processes. Central to the paper's argument is evidence that sub-Saharan African countries are now integrated into the political economy of drug consumption due to the spill-over effect. These countries are now minor markets for “hard drugs” as the result of the activities of organizations and individual traffickers that use Africa as a staging point in their trade with Europe and the United States. As a result, sub-Saharan African countries have drug consumption problems that were essentially absent prior to 1980, along with associated health, social, and economic costs. The emerging drug problem has forced African countries to develop their own drug control policy. The sub-Saharan African countries mentioned below vary to some extent in the level of drug use and misuse problems: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo (Zaire), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. As part of this effort, African countries are assessing the health, social, and economic costs of drug-use-related problems to pinpoint methods which are both effective and inexpensive, since their budgets for social programs are severely constrained. Many have progressed to the point of adopting anti-drug laws or legislation, or of establishing a drug control agency. They are also cooperating regionally to coordinate drug control measures and working with the Organization of African Unity (OAU). In addition, almost all the sub-Saharan African countries are signatories to all United Nations drug conventions. Since the drug problem in Africa has international origins, it will take concerted international cooperation and coordinated effort to combat the “social cancer” of drugs.

How flexible are the United Nations drug conventions?

There are currently three United Nations drug conventions in force: the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, as amended in 1972; the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 and the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988. All of these conventions take a clearly prohibitionist approach to the drug problem. Indeed, prohibitionist drug policies around the world have been modelled after these international conventions. The initial prototype for current drug policies was the 1912 Hague opium convention; current UN conventions only continue the approach started before World War I. There should be no doubt that the purpose of these conventions is to introduce some sort of global prohibition. Moreover, they are perceived as a serious obstacle to the reform of current drug policies, making impossible not only the legalisation of any drugs, including cannabis, but also the adoption of measures to depenalise or decriminalise consumption or implement harm reduction strategies. In other words, the UN conventions impose very serious limitations on the signatories’ development of unique national drug policies. The chances of changing this situation, repealing or substantially amending these conventions are extremely slim. However, there are still possibilities for the reform or liberalisation of current drug policies. The most important thing to realise is that there are more than two radical solutions, full scale, ‘hard’ prohibition, or complete legalisation. For change to occur, we have to learn to accept not only that society will never be completely drug-free, as many antiprohibitionists rightly stress, but also that, at least for the time being, some prohibitionist policies will remain in tact. Rather than completely dismissing prohibition, we might support some sort of ‘soft’ prohibition, attempting to limit and reduce the damage resulting from strict prohibitionist policies. In other words, using terminology proposed by Reuter (1992), instead of choosing between the attitudes of ‘hawks’ and ‘doves’ we should opt for the middle of the road approach of an ‘owl’. There is some latitude for such an approach under the current UN conventions, even if they do not really go far enough. From a purely legal point of view, there are at least three alternatives to full-scale prohibition. The first is complete legalisation. Such a scheme would not limit drugs to This paper has been peer-reviewed.