roadmaps to reforming the un drug conventions - Beckley Foundation

1. The production of opium by any country or territory shall be organised and controlledin such manner as to ensure that, as far as possible, the quantity produced in any oneyear shall not exceed the estimate of opium to be produced as established underparagraph 1(f) of article 19.4.10.1 General comments on Article 21 bis (1)Article 21 bis (1) was inserted in the 1961 Convention by the 1972 Protocol. It requires theproduction of opium to be organised and controlled so that, as far as possible, the annualquantity of opium produced by a country or territory does not exceed its estimate ofopium production under Article 19(1)(f). The Commentary on the 1972 Protocol notesthat a draft of Article 21 bis (1) was amended to include the words ‘as far as possible’ inrecognition of the fact that advance estimates of the yield of opium produced fromharvests are inexact. 1464.10.2 Option 2 – changes to Article 21 bis (1)Currently, the estimate of opium production required under paragraph (1)(f) of Article19 is of the quantity of opium to be produced for medical or scientific purposes only, asproduction for other than medical or scientific purposes may not be permitted underArticle 4(c). Under Option 2, production of opium for non-medical non-scientificpurposes would be permitted, and thus opium production limits would need to bebased on total estimates of production for medical and scientific purposes, and nonmedicaland non-scientific purposes. As discussed above, it is proposed under Option 2that Article 19(1) should be amended so that Parties would be required to furnishseparate estimates of opium production for medical and scientific purposes, and fornon-medical and non-scientific purposes. The proposed changes would mean thatparagraph (1)(f) of Article 19 would only refer to a Party’s estimate of the quantity ofopium to be produced for medical and scientific purposes, and the requirement forParties to furnish estimates of opium production for non-medical and non-scientificpurposes would be contained in a new paragraph (1)(l). Therefore, Article 21 bis (1)would need to be amended to refer to the sum of the estimates established underparagraphs (1)(f) and (1)(l) of Article 19.4.10.3 Option 2 – amendment of Article 21 bis (1)In Article 21 bis (1):1. after ‘exceed the’, insert ‘sum of the’2. for ‘estimate’, substitute ‘estimates’.146United Nations. Commentary on the Protocol Amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs,1961, New York: United Nations, 1976, p. 58.113