The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961

Abstract

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, was opened for signature on March 30, 1961. As of August 1, 1961 (the last day for such action), this treaty was signed by 64 countries and as of the date of writing this article eleven states had become parties by ratification or accession: Cameroun, Canada, Cuba, Dahomey, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Syria, and Thailand. When the United Nations Conference for the Adoption of a Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, meeting at United Nations Headquarters from January 24 to March 25, 1961, adopted the new Convention on March 25, 1961, it completed a work which had occupied international organs since 1948. It was in this year that, at its third session, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted a resolution, introduced by the representative of the United States, which recommended the draft finally adopted by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as Resolution 159 II D (VII), August 3, 1948. In this resolution the Secretary-General of the United Nations was requested to begin work on the drafting of a new single convention on narcotic drugs. He was instructed that the new treaty should replace the existing treaties in the field, provide for control of the cultivation of plants grown for the production of narcotic drugs, and simplify the international control machinery by replacing the present Permanent Central Opium Board and Drug Supervisory Body by a single organ.