Drug prohibition law is
prohibition-based law by which
governments prohibit, except under
licence, the production, supply, and possession of many, but not all, substances which are recognised as
drugs, and which corresponds to international
treaty commitments in the
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961[1], the
Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971[2], and the
United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988[3].
When produced, supplied or possessed under licence, otherwise prohibited drugs are known as controlled drugs.
The United Nations has its own drug control programme, as part of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)[4], which was formerly called the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs[5] is the central drug policy-making body within the United Nations system.
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)[6] is an independent and quasi-judicial control organ for the implementation of the United Nations drug control conventions.
