A drug policy is the policy regarding the control and regulation of psychoactive substances (commonly referred to as drugs), particularly those that are addictive or cause physical and mental dependence. While drug policies are generally implemented by governments, entities at all levels (from international organisations, national or local government, administrations, or public places) may have specific policies related to drugs.
Drug policies are usually aimed at combating drug addiction or dependence addressing both demand and supply of drugs, as well as mitigating the harm of drug use, and providing medical assistance and treatment. Demand reduction measures include voluntary treatment, rehabilitation, substitution therapy, overdose management, alternatives to incarceration for drug related minor offenses, medical prescription of drugs, awareness campaigns, community social services, and support for families. Supply side reduction involves measures such as enacting foreign policy aimed at eradicating the international cultivation of plants used to make drugs and interception of drug trafficking, fines for drug offenses, incarceration for persons convicted for drug offenses. Policies that help mitigate the dangers of drug use include needle syringe programs, drug substitution programs, and free facilities for testing a drug's purity.
The concept of "drugs" –a substance subject to control– varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, heroin is regulated almost everywhere; substances such as khat, codeine, or alcohol are regulated in some places, but not others. Most jurisdictions also regulate prescription drugs, medicinal drugs not considered dangerous but that can only be supplied to holders of a medical prescription, and sometimes drugs available without prescription but only from an approved supplier such as a pharmacy, but this is not usually described as a "drug policy". There are however some international standards as to which substances are under certain controls, in particular via the three international drug control conventions.
Regulatory levers
Between authorisation and prohibition, there is a continuum of possible regulations. The Swiss Federal Commission for Issues relating to Addiction identified 26 levers for drug regulation, in 6 domains (production, distribution, marketing, taxation, price control and consumption):
Production Production authorisation/reporting requirement Quantitative restrictions on production/import Qualitative restrictions on products Types of sales outlets (e.g. pharmacies only)
Distribution Sales authorisation required Minimum age for sale (e.g. legal drinking age) Restrictions on the number/density of sales outlets (e.g. casino licences) Regulation of on-line sales channels Restrictions on opening hours of points of sale (including vending machines) Restrictions on product availability (e.g. no sale of alcohol to drunken persons) Requirements for training of staff at points of sale Information requirements (written) Obligation to provide information (verbal) Information for people with problematic consumption
Marketing Declaration of ingredients on packaging Warnings Packaging requirements (e.g. dose and instructions) Advertising restrictions
Taxes Tax amount (e.g. alcohol tax) Use of tax revenue (earmarking for health programmes)
Prices Minimum price/prohibition on discounts Fixed prices (e.g. medicines reimbursed by health insurance)
Consumption Restrictions on consumption in certain places Temporary restrictions on consumption Restrictions on consumption in certain situations (e.g. driving or working) Protection of third parties (e.g. against passive smoking)
For each of the 26 variables, the instruments is already in use today, at least for some substances.
International drug control treaties
History
The first international treaty to control a psychoactive substance was adopted at the Brussels Conference in 1890 in the context of the regulations against slave trade, and concerned alcoholic beverages. It was followed by the final act of the Shanghai Opium Commission of 1909 which attempted to settle peace and arrange the trade in opium, after the Opium Wars in the 19th Century.
In 1912 at the First International Opium Convention held in the Hague, the multilateral International Opium Convention was adopted; it ultimately got incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. A number of international treaties related to drugs followed in subsequent decades: the 1925 Agreement concerning the Manufacture of, Internal Trade in and Use of Prepared Opium (which introduced some restrictions—but no total prohibition—on the export of "Indian hemp" pure extracts), the 1931 Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs and Agreement for the Control of Opium Smoking in the Far East, the 1936 Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs, among others. After World War II, a series of Protocols signed at Lake Success brought into the mandate of the newly created United Nations these pre-war treaties which had been handled by the League of Nations and the Office international d'hygiène publique.
In 1961 the nine previous drug-control treaties in force were superseded by the 1961 Single Convention, which rationalized global control on drug trading and use. Countries commit to "protecting the health and welfare of [hu]mankind" and to combat substance abuse and addiction. The treaty is not a self-enforcing agreement: countries have to pass their own legislation aligned with the framework of the Convention.BBC: The UK's Misuse of Drugs Act (1971), 19 February 2009 The 1961 Convention was supplemented by the 1971 Convention and the 1988 Convention, forming the three international drug control treaties upon which other legal instruments rely. Their implementation has been led by the United States, in particular after the Nixon administration's declaration of "war on drugs" in 1971, and the creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a U.S. federal law enforcement agency in 1973.
Since the early 2000s the European Union (EU) has developed several comprehensive and multidisciplinary strategies as part of its drug policy to prevent the diffusion of recreational drug use and abuse among the European population and raise public awareness on the adverse effects of drugs among all member states of the European Union, as well as conjoined efforts with European law enforcement agencies, such as Europol and EMCDDA, to counter organized crime and illegal drug trade in Europe.
Current treaties
The core drug control treaties currently in force internationally are:
the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 (1961 Convention or Single Convention) composed of: the original Single Convention concluded at New York City (United States), 30 March 1961, and its amendement, the Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs which was adopted in Geneva (Switzerland), 25 March 1972, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971 Convention), concluded at Vienna, 21 February 1971, and the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988 Convention) concluded at Vienna (Austria), 20 December 1988.
There are other treaties that address drugs under international control, such as:
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), concluded on 10 December 1982 in Montego Bay (Jamaica), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), concluded on 20 November 1989 in New York City, the International Convention Against Doping in Sport concluded in Paris (France) on 19 October 2005.
Additionally, other pieces of international law enter into play, like the international human rights treaties protecting the right to health or the rights of indigenous peoples, and, in the case of plants considered as drug crops (coca plant, cannabis, opium poppy), treaties protecting the right to land, farmers' of peasants' rights, and treaties on plant genetic resources or traditional knowledge.
+Former and current international drug control treatiesShort nameFull nameConcludedIn forceDiscontinuedFirst (Hague) Opium ConventionFirst International Opium Convention of 1925 The Hague23 January 19121919–19461925 Geneva Opium AgreementAgreement concerning the Manufacture of, Internal Trade in and Use of Prepared OpiumGeneva11 February 19251926–1946Second (Geneva) Opium ConventionSecond International Opium Convention of 1925Geneva19 February 19251928–1946Limitation ConventionConvention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic DrugsGeneva13 July 19311933–1946Bangkok AgreementAgreement for the Control of Opium Smoking in the Far EastBangkok27 November 19311937–1946Suppression ConventionConvention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous DrugsGeneva26 June 19361939–1946Lake Success ProtocolProtocol Amending the Agreements, Conventions and Protocols on Narcotic Drugs concluded at The Hague on 23 January 1912, at Geneva on 11 February 1925 and 19 February 1925, and 13 July 1931, at Bangkok on 27 November 1931 and at Geneva on 26 June 1936Lake Success11 December 19461946–1968Paris ProtocolProtocol Bringing under International Control Drugs outside the Scope of the Convention of 13 July 1931 for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic DrugsParis19 November 19481946–19681953 ProtocolProtocol for Limiting and Regulating the Cultivation of the Poppy Plant, the Production of, International and Wholesale Trade in, and Use of OpiumNew York City23 June 19531963–?Single ConventionSingle Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961New York City30 March 19611968–1975Current1971 ConventionConvention on Psychotropic SubstancesVienna21 February 1971 1976–presentSingle Convention as amendedSingle Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 as amended by the Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic DrugsGeneva25 March 19721975–present1988 ConventionUnited Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic SubstancesVienna20 December 1988 1990–present
Treaty-mandated organizations There are four bodies mandated under the international drug control conventions (1961, 1971 and 1988):
The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), a subsidiary body of the United Nations ECOSOC, the CND is acting as a Conference of the parties to the three core Conventions, the UN Secretary-General, whose mandate is de facto carried on by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Health Organization (WHO), in charge of the scientific review of substances for inclusion under, changes in, or withdrawal from control (scheduling assessment), the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the treaty-body monitoring implementation and collecting statistical data.
Drug policy by country
Australia
Australian drug laws are criminal laws and mostly exist at the state and territory level, not the federal, and are therefore different, which means an analysis of trends and laws for Australia is complicated. The federal jurisdiction has enforcement powers over national borders.
In October 2016, Australia legislated for some medicinal use cannabis.
Bolivia