roadmaps to reforming the un drug conventions - Beckley Foundation

4.9.1 General comments on Article 21Article 21 of the 1961 Convention imposes limits on the quantities of drugs which maybe manufactured and imported by each country and territory of Parties to theConvention. Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 21 of the 1961 Convention require Parties toensure that quantities of drugs manufactured and imported by any country or territoryin a given year do not exceed the quantities of drugs that have been consumed formedical and scientific purposes, utilised for the manufacture of other drugs,uncontrolled substances and Schedule III preparations, exported, added to the stock andacquired for special purposes. Article 21 does not impose such limits on production ofdrugs; therefore, the limits in Article 21 apply only to import of those drugs that areobtained by production rather than manufacture, i.e. opium, coca leaves, cannabis andcannabis resin. However, in relation to opium only, Article 21 bis requires production tobe organised and controlled so that the annual quantity of opium produced by a countryor territory does not exceed that country’s or territory’s (approximate) estimate of opiumproduction. Article 24 also imposes a general requirement for Parties not to contribute toglobal overproduction of opium. 133The 1961 Commentary does not explain specifically why Article 21 does not imposegeneral limits on production of drugs, as it does for manufacture and import. However,the Commentary notes in relation to Article 23 (requiring governmental control ofcultivation and trade in opium) that countries which permit cultivation of the plantsfrom which opium, coca leaves and cannabis are obtained cannot control with sufficientprecision the quantities harvested by individual producers, or ascertain with sufficientprecision the quantities which would enter controlled trade. In contrast, theCommentary notes that Governments can control the quantities, and movement, ofdrugs which enter legal markets through importation and manufacture. 134 TheCommentary explains that this is the reason that the 1961 Convention does not allowprivate traders to purchase, or engage in wholesale or international trade in, cultivatedplants, and instead requires this to be undertaken by government authorities. 135 TheCommentary on the 1972 Protocol also notes that Article 19(1)(f) only requires that133Article 24 requires Parties to take into account the ‘prevailing world need for opium’ in accordancewith the estimates so as to not contribute to global overproduction of opium, and to not permit theinitiation of, or an increase in existing, production of opium if it believes this may result in illicittraffic in opium. It also requires Parties to seek approval from the INCB to initiate production ofopium for export (not exceeding 5 tons annually), or to increase production for export above five tonsannually. In addition, article 22(1) provides that a Party must prohibit cultivation of opium poppy,coca bush or coca plant if the Party judges this to be the most suitable measure, given the prevailingconditions, for preventing the diversion of drugs into illicit traffic.1341961 Commentary, p. 278.1351961 Commentary, p. 278.108