International Context (From Drugs and British Society: Responses to a Social Problem in the Eighties, P 36-51, 1989, Susanne MacGregor, ed. -- See NCJ-124945)

• NCJ Number: 124948
• Author(s): R Hartnoll
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: Routledge
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This analysis of drug issues focuses on the role of drugs as commodities in an international market within which production and consumption are inextricably linked.

Abstract

International action regarding drug issues was initiated at the 1909 Shanghai Conference, which brought together 14 countries to discuss the control and suppression of opium. Over the following decades, international control efforts expanded through a series of treaties, first under the League of Nations and later under the United Nations. The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and regional agencies have also become involved in efforts to address drug issues. The international efforts have focused largely on control and have helped shape both the perceptions of the drug problems and the policies of individual nations. The patterns of supply and use of drugs like heroin, cocaine, and marijuana in Great Britain are similar to those of its European neighbors. In addition, Britain's drug policies represent positions between those of more extreme nations and have been shaped in part by international approaches to drug control.