Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted in the sixty-first session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs on the scheduling of substances under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances

Background and further information:

The United Nations (UN) Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 aims to combat drug abuse by coordinated international action. There are two forms of intervention and control that work together. First, it seeks to limit the possession, use, trade in, distribution, import, export, manufacture and production of drugs exclusively to medical and scientific purposes. Second, it combats drug trafficking through international cooperation to deter and discourage drug traffickers.

The UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 establishes an international control system for psychotropic substances. It responded to the diversification and expansion of the spectrum of drugs of abuse and introduced controls over a number of synthetic drugs according to their abuse potential on the one hand and their therapeutic value on the other.

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is a commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its functions and powers are inter alia set out in the Conventions. It is made up of 53 UN Member States elected by ECOSOC. 12 EU Member States are currently members of the CND with the right to vote. The Union has an observer status in the CND. The CND regularly amends the list of substances that are annexed to the Conventions on the basis of recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) which is advised by its Expert Committee on Drug Dependence.

The WHO recommended on 8 December 2017 to the Secretary General of the UN to add 12 new substances to the schedules of the Conventions. The CND, in its sixty-first session taking place in Vienna from 12 to 16 March 2018, will adopt decisions on the scheduling of these 12 substances under the Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, respectively.