roadmaps to reforming the un drug conventions - Beckley Foundation

‘Production’ of drugs is defined in Article 1(1)(t) as ‘the separation of opium, cocaleaves, cannabis and cannabis resin from the plants from which they are obtained’. It isintended to capture agricultural operations rather than industrial processes involved inmanufacturing drugs. 106 ‘Manufacture’ is defined in Article 1(1)(n) as ‘all processes,other than production, by which drugs may be obtained [including] refining as well asthe transformation of other drugs’. The 1961 Commentary suggests that the limitation ofmanufacture to medical and scientific purposes in Article 4(c) relates only tomanufacture of drugs (defined in Article 1(1)(j) as any substance in Schedule 1 and II ofthe Convention), and not to the manufacture from drugs of substances not covered bythe Convention. 107‘Import’ and ‘export’ are defined in Article 1(1)(m) as ‘in their respective connotations,the physical transfer of drugs from one State to another State, or from one territory toanother territory of the same State’. ‘Distribution’ is not defined in the Convention. Itsordinary meaning is ‘the act of sharing something out among a number of recipients’. 108The UN Commentary on the 1988 Convention 109 (‘1988 Commentary’) notes thisordinary meaning but suggests that a more apt interpretation of distribution (as used inthe provisions of the 1988 Convention dealing with criminalisation of participation incontext of illicit traffic in drugs) may be by reference to ‘distributorship’ – thecommercial role of ensuring that goods pass from manufacturer or importer towholesaler or retailers, or in other words, the movement of goods through the supplychain. 110According to the 1961 Commentary, it is clear that ‘possession’ in Article 4(c) includespossession for the purpose of personal use of drugs, as well as possession forcommercial distribution, and therefore that Parties are generally obliged under Article4(c) to limit both kinds of possession to medical and scientific purposes (although it isnot clear whether possession for non-medical and non-scientific personal use must bemade a punishable offence under the penal provisions of Article 36, as discussed inrelation to Article 36 below).‘Use’ is not defined in the Convention, but its meaning in Article 4(c) would clearlyinclude consumption of drugs by individuals. It is unclear whether it would also extendto use of drugs to manufacture other drugs, substances or preparations, but it seemsmost likely that all the forms of conduct intended to be captured in this regard arecovered under ‘manufacture’ in Article 4(c) – defined in Article 1(n) to includetransforming a drug into another drug (which by virtue of Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4,106Boister N. Penal Aspects of the UN Drug Conventions. The Hague/London/Boston: Kluwer LawInternational, 2001, p. 79.1071961 Commentary, p. 16.108Oxford Dictionary of English, Second Edition, revised. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.109United Nations. Commentary on the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in NarcoticDrugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988. New York: United Nations, 1988 (‘1988 Commentary’).1101988 Commentary, p. 55.85