roadmaps to reforming the un drug conventions - Beckley Foundation

The penal provisions of Article 22 of the 1971 Convention are similar to those of Article36 of the 1961 Convention.1.3 The 1988 ConventionThe 1988 Convention was developed to deal with the growth in illicit drug trafficking inthe 1970s and 1980s, and to overcome the perceived inadequacies of earlier treaties inpreventing production, trafficking and supply of illicit drugs. It was intended to dealcomprehensively with international and domestic illicit traffic in narcotic drugs andpsychotropic substances, and to provide for greater multilateral action and intergovernmentalcooperation to suppress the illicit traffic.The provisions of the 1988 Convention deal mainly with drug supply and related acts.Article 3 establishes a range of actions with respect to supply of and demand for narcoticdrugs and psychotropic substances that Parties must make criminal offences byreference to earlier conventions, including an explicit obligation in Article 3(2) to makepossession, purchase or cultivation of these drugs or substances for personalconsumption a criminal offence. 96Most of the remainder of the provisions relate to cooperation between Parties insuppressing commission of these offences – providing for measures of extra-territorialjurisdiction, extradition, mutual legal assistance, transfer of proceedings, internationalcooperation and assistance for transit states, asset seizure, money laundering andconfiscation of proceeds from illicit trafficking.2. Approach to amending the Conventions in Option 1The proposed approach to amending the Conventions under this option is for a newprovision to be included in each of the 1961 Convention and the 1971 Conventions. Thiswould exempt from the scope of those Conventions, and thereby from the scope of the1988 Convention, any action with respect to drugs involving only a small quantity ofdrugs and undertaken for a non-commercial purpose, including cultivation,manufacture, production, preparation, offering, supply, distribution, purchase,acquisition, importation, exportation, possession or use of drugs. An action would beconsidered to be for a non-commercial purpose if it was not taken for the purpose ofreceiving direct or indirect pecuniary benefit.In the 1961 Convention the following new provision should be added as Article 3 bis.Article 3 bisOther than article 30(2)(b), this Convention does not apply to the cultivation,production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, offering, distribution, delivery,96Article 3(2) of the 1988 Convention.73