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The international drug control system had its origins in Shanghai in 1909 and, a mere three years later, the first International Opium Convention was adopted, establishing, in rudimentary form, the present narcotics control regime. During the existence of the League of Nations, the Permanent Central Board was created; this was the predecessor of the International Narcotics Control Board and it effectively put an end to the large-scale diversion of manufactured narcotic drugs from the legal trade into illicit channels. A burgeoning international drugs trade led to an expansion in the number of conventions, protocols and agreements attempting to control it. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was therefore introduced in 1961, to integrate the measures of previous instruments and to extend the scope of international control to other drugs, such as cannabis and coca leaf. The rapid expansion of the pharmaceutical industry and the large number of manufactured psychotropic drugs led to the adoption of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances which controls the products of the licit industry as well as "street drugs" that are not used in medical practice. However, the illicit drug trade continued to exploit all of the opportunities offered by globalization during the past two decades and it was recognized that new measures were required to counteract them. The 1988 Convention broke new ground by introducing measures to counteract money-laundering, to deprive those engaged in illicit traffic of the proceeds of their criminal activity and to prevent international traffic in substances frequently used in the illicit manufacture of drugs. In the present paper we have analysed some of the historic events in the evolution of the drug abuse problem and the international responses to them.
