An International Issue (3)

3. The Agreement Concerning the Manufacturing, Internal Trade and Use of Prepared Opium and the International Opium Convention. In order to verify the implementation of Hague Opium Convention and to prohibit drug trafficking, two international anti-drug conferences were held in Geneva under the proposal of the Advisory Committee of International Narcotics Matters. Thereafter, the Agreement Concerning the Manufacturing, Internal Trade and Use of Prepared Opium was signed on December 11, 1924, and the International Opium Convention was signed on February 19, 1925.

4. Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, Agreement for Control of Opium Smoking in the Far East, and Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs. The Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs was signed in Geneva on July 13, 1931 to supplement the Hague Opium Convention and the International Opium Convention, and more importantly to put more stringent restrictions to the manufacture of narcotic drugs. The Agreement for Control of Opium Smoking in the Far East was signed in Bangkok on November 27, 1931. The Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs was signed in Geneva on June 26, 1936. It is the Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs that for the first time defines the act of illicit manufacturing, altering, extracting, rectification, possessing, providing, trafficking, distributing or purchasing of narcotic drugs as an international crime, which is a major breakthrough in international anti-drug legislation.

5. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs on June 30, 1961. It not only consolidates and revises the previous conventions and agreements, but also extends its regulatory scope to the planting of natural narcotic materials and prescribes the issues about criminal jurisdiction.