The origins and early evolution of the international drug control system: 1729–1967

John Collins

Chapter 9 in Research Handbook on Drugs and Society, 2026, pp 97-109 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, the story is told of the emergence and development of today's international drug control system. It traces its origins in the long history of conflict and cooperation between states, driven by economic, political and imperial interests. What we know now as the United Nations drug control regime was a broad compromise arrangement settled on by nations in the twentieth century. The chapter then focuses more specifically on the evolution of the United Nations treaty system, which forms the framework in international law for the contemporary global drug control system. This developed between the 1930s and 1960s, culminating in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is argued that this legal framework can best be understood as regulation rather than simply as prohibition.

Keywords: Prohibition; Regulation; Criminalisation; Drug control; United Nations; League of Nations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802209136
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