Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs

Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs

Signed	June 26, 1936
Location	Geneva
Effective	October 26, 1939
Parties	35

The Convention for the Suppression of the Illicit Traffic in Dangerous Drugs was a drug control treaty signed in 1936.

Harry Anslinger representing the United States attempted to add provisions to criminalize all activities – cultivation, production, manufacture and distribution – related to the use of opium, coca (and its derivatives) and cannabis for non-medical and non-scientific purposes. Other countries objected to this proposal, so the Convention's focus remained on trafficking. The U.S. considered the final treaty to be too weak, and refused to sign it, fearing that it might have to weaken its own controls to comply with the treaty. The Convention therefore had little effect, although it was the first treaty to make certain drug offenses international crimes; all the previous treaties had dealt with regulating licit drug activity.

References

• Ratifications.
• Cannabis: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy, Report of the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, September 2002.
• Evolution of international drug control, 1945-1995, Bulletin on Narcotics, 1999.
• www.druglibrary.org