Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Encyclopedia
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
system. Its predecessor, the Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, was established by the first Assembly of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
on December 15, 1920. The Advisory Committee held its first meeting from May 2 to May 5, 1921, and continued its activities until 1940 http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/bulletin/bulletin_1999-01-01_1_page003.html. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs was established by the UN Economic and Social Council in 1946, with Canadian Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman
Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman
Charles Henry Ludovic Sharman, CMG, CBE, ISO , a Canadian, was Chief of the Narcotics Division in the Department of Pensions and National Health. Along with American Harry J. Anslinger, Sharman played a key role in the development of the global drug control regime. Sharman was the first Chair of...
as its first chair. The Commission has important functions under the drug control treaties in force today http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1966-01-01_1_page002.html. Most notably, it can amend the Schedules of controlled substances.
Powers
The drug control treaties divide power between the Commission and the International Narcotics Control BoardInternational Narcotics Control Board
The International Narcotics Control Board is the independent and quasi-judicial control organ for the implementation of the United Nations drug conventions...
. The Commission has power to influence drug control policy by advising other bodies and deciding how various substances will be controlled. However, enforcement power is reserved to the Board.
Under Article 8 of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 is an international treaty to prohibit production and supply of specific drugs and of drugs with similar effects except under licence for specific purposes, such as medical treatment and research...
, the Commission's powers are to:
- Amend the Schedules;
- Call the attention of the International Narcotics Control Board to any matters which may be relevant to the functions of the Board;
- Make recommendations for the implementation of the aims and provisions of the Single Convention, including programmes of scientific research and the exchange of information of a scientific or technical nature; and
- Draw the attention of non-parties to decisions and recommendations which it adopts under the Single Convention, with a view to their considering taking action in accordance therewith.
Under Article 17 of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances
Convention on Psychotropic Substances
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 is a United Nations treaty designed to control psychoactive drugs such as amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and psychedelics signed at Vienna on February 21, 1971...
, the Commission has power to amend the Schedules by a two-thirds vote and "may consider all matters pertaining to the aims of this Convention and to the implementation of its provisions, and may make recommendations relating thereto."
The United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
has power to modify the Commission's decisions, with the exception of scheduling decisions.
Role in drug scheduling
The drug control treaties divide drugs into four Schedules with varying levels of control.Article 3 of the Single Convention and Article 2 of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances set out the scheduling procedure, giving the Commission the power to decide which Schedule a drug or other substance shall be placed into. However, the Economic and Social Council has power to alter or reverse the Commission's scheduling decisions. In addition, each Schedule has certain findings that the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
must make with regard to a drug or substance before it be placed in that Schedule. The relationship between the WHO and the Commission is described as follows by the Commentary on the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs http://www.drugtext.org/library/legal/treat/commentary/:
- The Commission on Narcotic Drugs decides whether a substance is to be placed under international control. It can take a positive decision only in accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization. It can include the substance only in that Schedule which is recommended by the Organization. If the World Health Organization recommends Schedule I, the Commission cannot decide to add the substance to Schedule II, or vice versa. The Commission must either accept the Schedule recommended by the World Health Organization or abstain from extending control at all. It may, however, decide to place a drug only in Schedule I and not in Schedule IV if the World Health Organization has recommended simultaneously inclusion in both these Schedules. In no case can the Commission decide to extend control to a substance if the World Health Organization has not recommended to do it.
Article 12 of the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 is one of three major drug control treaties currently in force. It provides additional legal mechanisms for enforcing the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the 1971 Convention on...
grants the Commission power to decide whether a precursor substance used illicit drug manufacture should be controlled, and if so, which category of controlled precursor substances - Table I or Table II - it should be placed into. The Board's findings on scientific matters in reference to the substance are binding on the Commission, however. And, as with drug scheduling under the other two treaties, the Convention allows the Economic and Social Council to review and overturn the Commission's decisions in reference to precursor substance control.
Membership
The Commission consists of 53 statesSovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
, serving 4-year terms http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/cnd_termofoffice.html, with the following distribution of seats among regions:
- Eleven for AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n States; - Eleven for AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n States; - Ten for Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n and CaribbeanCaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
States; - Seven for Eastern EuropeEastern EuropeEastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an States; - Fourteen for Western EuropeWestern EuropeWestern Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an and other States; - One seat to rotate between the Asian, and the Latin American and Caribbean States every four years.
Council resolutions 845 (XXXII), and 1147 (XLI) provide that members are elected:
- From among the States Members of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies and the Parties to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961;
- With due regard to the adequate representation of countries that are important producers of opiumOpiumOpium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
or cocaCocaCoca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
leaves, of countries that are important in the field of the manufacture of narcoticNarcoticThe term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
drugs, and of countries in which drug addictionSubstance dependenceThe section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
or the illicit traffic in narcotic drugs constitutes an important problem; - Taking into account the principle of equitable geographical distribution.
The fact that the Commission is made up of states rather than individuals makes the Commission less independent from political pressures and allows Governments to more directly influence its decisions, in accordance with their own policies and laws. For instance, 21 U.S.C. § 811(d)(2)(B) of the U.S. Controlled Substances Act
Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain...
provides that the recommendations of the Secretary of Health and Human Services in reference to drug scheduling shall be binding on the U.S. representative.
Debates
The CND's annual meeting serves as a forum for nations to debate drug policy. At the 2005 meeting, FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
rallied in opposition to the UN's zero-tolerance approach in international drug policy. Their appeal was vetoed by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, while the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
delegation remained reticent. Meanwhile, U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of National Drug Control Policy
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy , a former cabinet level component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, was established in 1989 by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988...
Director John P. Walters
John P. Walters
John P. Walters is the former Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy . He held that position from December 7, 2001 to January 20, 2009. As the nation's "Drug Czar," Mr...
clashed with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is a United Nations agency that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations...
Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa
Antonio Maria Costa
Antonio Maria Costa was an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, appointed, from May 2002 until August 2010, to the positions of Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Director-General of the United Nations Office in Vienna .-Background:An Italian native,...
on the issue of needle exchange programs. Walters advocated strict prohibition, while Costa opined, "We must not deny these addicts any genuine opportunities to remain HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-negative".
The Bulletin on Narcotics
Bulletin on Narcotics
The Bulletin on Narcotics is a publication of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. First published in 1949, the bulletin provides a great deal of insight into the legislative history of the drug control treaties of the 20th century, including the earlier treaties as well as:*The 1961...
has reported on the Commission's activities since 1949.