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The history of drug legislation

Source: Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs: Cannabis Historical summary of the development of drug legislation in Canada 1908-1997 1908 Opium Act 1911 Opium and Other Drugs Act morphine and cocaine included; 1920 Opium and Narcotic Drugs Act: * creation of the Bureau of Dangerous Drugs, * creation of the Canadian Department of Health and the Federal Drugs Bureau with responsibility for international agreements * creation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) responsibility for enforcing federal laws, including drug legislation; 1920-1923 Addition of the following amendments : * increase in police powers of search; * imposition of discriminatory penalties on certain categories of accused persons; * deportation of foreigners who broke the law; * imposition of whipping for minors who were convicted of these offences. 1923: * inclusion of codeine, heroin and cannabis. 1923-1927: Extension of the penalties, offences and sentences including: * whipping for possession and distribution * creation of the offence of aiding and abetting which strengthened the police powers of search without a warrant; * presumption of possession by anyone found in the presence of the prohibited substances unless the person could prove that he or she had no knowledge of them. 1929: Opium and Psychotropic Substances Act 1930-1955 Consolidation of the federal bureaucracy including : * introduction of the offence of cultivating cannabis and opium (1938) * powers of deportation transferred to the Immigration Act (1952) * inclusion of new synthetic substances and their components. 1961 Narcotic Control Act 1969-1973 Commission on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs 1974 Bill S-19 (not passed) 1997 Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (C-8) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Historical summary of the development of international drug conventions 1909-1998 1909 Shanghai Commission 1912 Hague International Convention on Opium 1925 Geneva Conventions • 1- Convention on the suppression of the trade in and use of prepared opium, • 2- Convention on raw opium and other narcotics (International Opium Convention). 1931 Geneva Convention 1931 Bangkok Convention 19?? Geneva Convention 1946 Lake Success Protocol 1948 Paris Protocol 1953 New York Protocol 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics (New York) 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances (Vienna) 1972 Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotics (New York) 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Vienna) ... and more recently.... 1998 UN General Assembly (New York) organized by the International Narcotics Control Board. Adoption of strategic plan 1998-2008