Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961

Instrument

Type	Treaty
Number	United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 520, p. 151
Jurisdiction	International
Adopted	30 March 1961
Place	New York
In force from	13 December 1964
Parties	186 to the Convention as amended in 1972 (October 2026)
Depositary	Secretary-General of the United Nations

Status

Status	In force
Amended by	Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 (Geneva, 25 March 1972)

Cannabis

Controls the flowering or fruiting tops of the plant and the separated resin; seeds and leaves without the tops fall outside the definition; cultivation solely for fibre, seed or horticulture is outside the Convention (art. 28(2))

Text

Read the official text

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is the United Nations treaty of 1961 written to replace the earlier multilateral drug treaties with a single instrument.^{: Final Act, para. 1} Its parties undertake to limit the production, manufacture, trade, use and possession of the drugs it lists "exclusively to medical and scientific purposes".^{: art. 4} A conference in New York adopted it on 30 March 1961. It came into force on 13 December 1964. It was amended by a protocol of 1972, and in October 2026 186 states were parties to the amended Convention.

For cannabis, the Convention controls the flowering or fruiting tops of the plant and the resin separated from it. Its definition leaves out the seeds and any leaves not accompanied by the tops. The Convention does not apply to cultivation solely for fibre, seed or horticulture.^{: arts. 1, 28} Cannabis and cannabis resin were listed in Schedules I and IV from 1961. On 2 December 2020 the Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted to delete them from Schedule IV, and they remain in Schedule I.^: 5

Background and drafting

The Economic and Social Council decided on 28 July 1958, by resolution 689 J (XXVI), to convene a conference that would replace the existing multilateral drug treaties with a single instrument, reduce the number of treaty bodies and "make provision for the control of the production of raw materials of narcotic drugs". The conference met at United Nations headquarters from 24 January to 25 March 1961 with 73 states represented. It worked from a third draft prepared by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. One of its committees dealt with the draft's article on the national control of cannabis.^{: Final Act, paras. 1–3, 12–13} Under article 44 the Convention terminated and replaced, between its parties, the earlier treaties, among them the International Opium Convention signed at Geneva in 1925.^{: art. 44} It also provided for the International Narcotics Control Board, which replaced the Permanent Central Board of the 1925 Convention on 2 March 1968.^: 1

The treaty uses the word "cannabis" where the earlier treaties had used "Indian hemp", following a view the Commission on Narcotic Drugs expressed in 1953 on a suggestion from the World Health Organization (WHO). The 1925 Convention's "Indian hemp" had covered only the tops of the female plant. The 1961 definition also covers the tops of male plants. The UN Commentary of 1973 says the drafters wanted this partly "to facilitate the task of enforcement officers", who would find it very difficult to tell material from female plants and male plants apart.^: 2

Bewley-Taylor, Blickman and Jelsma (2014) write that the Commission concluded in 1955 that cannabis had no medicinal value, and that the 1958 third draft held a section headed "prohibition of cannabis" which the conference did not adopt. In their account India opposed a ban on the traditional use of bhang, which is made from the leaves, and Pakistan and Burma also argued against prohibition.^: 21

Cannabis in the text

Definitions

Article 1(1) defines the plant and the two drugs taken from it:^{: art. 1(1)(b)–(d)}

• "'Cannabis' means the flowering or fruiting tops of the cannabis plant (excluding the seeds and leaves when not accompanied by the tops) from which the resin has not been extracted, by whatever name they may be designated."
• "'Cannabis plant' means any plant of the genus Cannabis".
• "'Cannabis resin' means the separated resin, whether crude or purified, obtained from the cannabis plant."

"Cultivation" means the cultivation of the opium poppy, the coca bush or the cannabis plant, and "production" means the separation of opium, coca leaves, cannabis and cannabis resin from the plants that yield them. A "drug" is any substance in Schedules I and II.^{: art. 1(1)(i), (j), (t)} Cannabis and cannabis resin are therefore drugs. The cannabis plant and the leaves are not,^: 9 but article 2(7) makes them subject to named control measures, the plant to articles 22 and 28 and the leaves to article 28.^{: art. 2(7)}

The Commentary reads "any plant of the genus Cannabis" as covering every form of the plant, whether botanists treat the forms as species or varieties. It adds that the definition also covers plants grown for fibre or seed "whose tops may contain only negligible quantities of the active principle".^: 4 Because the resin is separately listed, the Commentary notes, it is controlled whatever part of the plant it comes from, male or female, which it describes as an aid to enforcement.^: 5

Seeds and leaves

The seeds, and the leaves when they are not accompanied by the tops, fall outside the definition of cannabis. Article 28(3) adds that the parties "shall adopt such measures as may be necessary to prevent the misuse of, and illicit traffic in, the leaves of the cannabis plant".^{: art. 28(3)} The Commentary reads the two provisions together: the rules governing cannabis do not apply to leaves without tops, and a party is not bound to prohibit their non-medical consumption, only to prevent their misuse. It notes the view expressed at the conference that the leaves were unsuitable for smoking, and notes that cigarettes seized from the illicit traffic had been found to contain leaves.^{: 3, 315–316}

Schedules

The 1961 Convention listed cannabis and cannabis resin in Schedule I, together with extracts and tinctures of cannabis. Cannabis and cannabis resin were also listed in Schedule IV, with desomorphine, heroin and ketobemidone; extracts and tinctures were not.^{: 65, 69} A drug in Schedule IV is subject to all the controls of Schedule I and to article 2(5). Under that paragraph a party "shall adopt any special measures of control which in its opinion are necessary having regard to the particularly dangerous properties of a drug so included". Where it judges this "the most appropriate means of protecting the public health and welfare", it shall also prohibit the drug's production, trade, possession and use except for medical and scientific research.^{: art. 2(5)}

The Commentary notes that cannabis and cannabis resin were the only drugs in Schedule IV obtained by "production" from a plant, the others being manufactured. It adds that a prohibition of their production would not necessarily mean prohibiting the cultivation of the plant itself.^: 68–69

Cultivation

Article 28(1) provides that a party which permits the cultivation of the cannabis plant "for the production of cannabis or cannabis resin" shall apply to it the system of controls that article 23 sets for the opium poppy.^{: art. 28(1)} Under article 23 a government agency designates the areas and plots where cultivation is permitted and licenses the cultivators. Cultivators deliver their whole crop to the agency, which must take physical possession of it no later than four months after the end of the harvest and holds the exclusive right of import, export and wholesale trade.^{: art. 23}

Article 28(2) reads: "This Convention shall not apply to the cultivation of the cannabis plant exclusively for industrial purposes (fibre and seed) or horticultural purposes."^{: art. 28(2)} The Commentary treats the paragraph as a restatement. Since article 28(1) covers only cultivation for cannabis or cannabis resin, it reads cultivation for any other purpose, including cultivation for the leaves, as outside the article 23 system.^: 312 It also takes the view that article 22 would reach hemp cultivation authorised for industrial or horticultural purposes "if such cultivation should prove to be a significant source of cannabis or cannabis resin in the illicit traffic".^: 276

Article 22 requires a party to prohibit cultivation of the opium poppy, the coca bush or the cannabis plant where it judges prohibition "the most suitable measure" for protecting public health and preventing diversion into the illicit traffic. A party that prohibits cultivation of the cannabis plant must seize and destroy plants illicitly cultivated, except small quantities it needs for scientific or research purposes.^{: art. 22}

Non-medical use and the 25-year limit

Article 49 let a state reserve, when it signed, ratified or acceded, the right to permit temporarily "the use of cannabis, cannabis resin, extracts and tinctures of cannabis for non-medical purposes", with the production, manufacture and trade needed for it. Such activities could be authorised only to the extent that they were traditional in the territory concerned and permitted there on 1 January 1961. Article 49(2)(f) sets the limit:^{: art. 49}

The use of cannabis for other than medical and scientific purposes must be discontinued as soon as possible but in any case within twenty-five years from the coming into force of this Convention as provided in paragraph 1 of article 41.^{: art. 49(2)(f)}

The production, manufacture and trade for these uses were to be reduced and abolished together with the uses themselves. The Commentary puts the deadline at 12 December 1989 and reads "cannabis" in subparagraph (f) as including cannabis resin and extracts and tinctures. In its reading, "traditional" means that the activity had been "practiced by a significant portion of the population for a considerable period of time".^: 470 On article 28 it also suggests that use in the Ayurvedic, Unani and Tibbi medical systems of India and Pakistan "may be considered to be a medical purpose".^: 314

Amendment and scheduling history

The 1972 Protocol

A second conference met at Geneva from 6 to 24 March 1972 with 97 states represented and adopted the Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961.^{: Final Act of the 1972 Conference} The Protocol is dated 25 March 1972 and came into force on 8 August 1975. Its article 12 amended article 22: the duty to seize and destroy illicitly cultivated plants, now article 22(2), is not in the 1961 text, which has a single paragraph.^{: art. 22; Secretariat's note to art. 50: 275} The Protocol also added article 36(1)(b), under which parties may provide that "abusers of drugs" who have committed offences undergo treatment, education, after-care, rehabilitation and social reintegration, as an alternative or an addition to conviction or punishment.^{: art. 36(1)(b)} A state that became a party to the Single Convention after 8 August 1975 is treated as a party to the amended Convention unless it states otherwise.^{: Secretariat's note, p. 20}

Changes to the schedules

Under article 3 the World Health Organization recommends changes to the schedules and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs decides on them. A decision takes effect for each party on the date it receives the Secretary-General's communication of it.^{: art. 3} The psychoactive compounds of cannabis were identified after the Convention was concluded, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was placed under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances rather than this treaty. Bewley-Taylor, Blickman and Jelsma (2014) argue that with this choice "the basic rationale of the Single Convention was abandoned" for cannabis.^: 21–22

The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence carried out critical reviews of cannabis and related substances at its 41st meeting, held in Geneva from 12 to 16 November 2018. On 24 January 2019 the WHO Director-General sent its recommendations to the UN Secretary-General. Among other changes, they proposed deleting cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV, deleting extracts and tinctures from Schedule I, adding dronabinol (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and the isomers of tetrahydrocannabinol to Schedule I, and adding a footnote to Schedule I placing preparations of predominantly cannabidiol with not more than 0.2 per cent of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol outside international control. At the Commission's session of 2 December 2020 the WHO observer said the evidence did not indicate that cannabis and cannabis resin were "particularly liable to produce ill-effects similar to the effects of the other substances in Schedule IV".^: 13

The Commission voted on the recommendations the same day. By 27 votes to 25, with one abstention, it deleted cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV (decision 63/17). It declined to add dronabinol to Schedule I by 23 votes to 28 (decision 63/18), to delete extracts and tinctures of cannabis from Schedule I by 24 votes to 27 (decision 63/19) and to add the cannabidiol footnote by 6 votes to 43 (decision 63/20).^: 5–6

Implementation

The parties undertake to take the legislative and administrative measures needed "to give effect to and carry out the provisions of this Convention within their own territories".^{: art. 4(a)} Article 36(1)(a) requires each party, subject to its constitutional limitations, to make cultivation, possession, sale, transport and the other listed acts punishable when they are committed intentionally and contrary to the Convention, with "serious offences" liable to "adequate punishment particularly by imprisonment or other penalties of deprivation of liberty".^{: art. 36(1)(a)}

Bangladesh, India and Pakistan made the article 49 reservation for the non-medical use of cannabis, cannabis resin and extracts and tinctures of cannabis under the 1961 Convention. Nepal made the same reservation to the Convention as amended in 1972.

Effect on cultivation and traditional use

The Commentary of 1973 notes that the control of cannabis production had been said to offer "great difficulties", because many varieties of the plant, with different amounts of the psychoactive principle, grew in many countries and wild growth was important in some of them. Varieties low in the drug were grown in a considerable number of countries where the cultivators and the local population did not appear interested in misusing them. The Commentary adds: "This at least was the situation as it appeared to the participants in the Plenipotentiary Conference."^: 312–313

On hemp grown for fibre and seed, the Commentary argues that cultivation outside the drug controls was not without risk, because material for misuse can be taken from the plant after it is harvested. Removing only the mature stalks and seeds from the field and burning the rest "would be very difficult to enforce, and would render uneconomical the harvesting for the fibre or seeds". It states that the Commission considered two answers in the 1950s: breeding a strain of the plant poor in or free of the drug for fibre or replacing cannabis with other fibre plants.^: 313

Bewley-Taylor, Blickman and Jelsma (2014) write that under article 49 "socially accepted uses of cannabis in many Asian and African countries" were "condemned to be abolished". They call this "a culturally biased approach" that also reached coca leaf chewing. They also write that because leaves and seeds were left out of the definition of cannabis, the traditional use of bhang in India could continue.^: 21

Reception

Bewley-Taylor, Blickman and Jelsma (2014) question the evidence on which cannabis entered the Convention. In 1952 the WHO Expert Committee on Drugs Liable to Produce Addiction declared cannabis preparations "practically obsolete"; they call that verdict "not substantiated by any evidence". They describe the papers before the Commission when it concluded in 1955 that cannabis had no medicinal value as "minimal and biased". They name the WHO official Pablo Osvaldo Wolff as the author of the report on cannabis put to the Commission in 1955.^: 18–21

See also

• Commission on Narcotic Drugs
• Convention on Psychotropic Substances
• Hemp
• International Narcotics Control Board
• International Opium Convention (1925)
• Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
• United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances