The foundational documents of marijuana laws around much of the world today are a trio of United Nations conventions

that were passed over the course of about three decades

from the early 1960s until the late 1980s.

The 1961 single convention on narcotic drugs

was passed as an effort to truncate production

and limit the global supply of narcotic and narcotic- was passed as an effort to truncate production and limit the global supply of

narcotic and narcotic-like substances, except for some few specific purposes, like those related

to certain medical treatments and those related to scientific research. This convention also

updated an earlier convention from 1931 to include synthetic opioids,

many of which had emerged in recent decades, along with a shortened, easier-to-navigate process

for adding newly emerging synthetics to the banned list, as they're discovered or developed.

The 30s-era convention had only provided

control mechanisms for substances like opium, cocaine, and heroin, but a large chunk of the global

drug trade had since shifted to synthetics because they were often more powerful, cheaper to make,

and easier to ship. So this new convention gave countries adhering to these standards

and working together to weaken the global drug trade, additional tools and rules to utilize in that

pursuit. The 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances further updated the existing body of

illegal drug-related regulations

to include psychoactive drugs like amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiaepines, and psychedelics.

This convention also limited the use of such drugs to some medical treatments and relevant research.

In the 1988 Convention against illicit traffic and narcotic

drugs and psychotropic substances added new powers for agencies attempting to enforce those previous

...