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International Opium Convention

The expression International Opium Convention refers either to the first International Opium Convention signed at The Hague in 1912, or to the second International Opium Convention signed at Geneva in 1925.

International Opium Convention signed at The Hague, January 23rd, 1912, and Protocols of cloture signed at The Hague on January 23rd, 1912; July 9th, 1913; and June 25th, 1914.

23 January 1912[1]

28 June 1919[2]

13 December 1964[3]

First International Opium Convention (1912)[edit]

In 1909, a 13-nation International Opium Commission was held in Shanghai, in response to increasing criticism of the opium trade and to the Opium Wars. A few years later, in 1912, the First International Opium Conference was convened in The Hague to continue the discussions initiated in Shanghai.


The International Opium Convention (or 1912 Opium Convention) which was signed at the end of the Hague Conference, on 23 January 1912, is considered as the first international drug control treaty. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on January 23, 1922.[4] The treaty was signed by Germany, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam. The convention provided, "The contracting Powers shall use their best endeavours to control, or to cause to be controlled, all persons manufacturing, importing, selling, distributing, and exporting morphine, cocaine, and their respective salts, as well as the buildings in which these persons carry such an industry or trade."


The convention was implemented in 1915 by the United States, Netherlands, China, Honduras, and Norway. It went into force globally in 1919, when it was incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles. The primary objective of the convention was to introduce restrictions on exports; it did not entail any prohibition or criminalisation of the uses and cultivation of opium poppy, the coca plant, or cannabis.

International Convention, Adopted by the Second Opium Conference (League of Nations), and Protocol relating thereto. Signed at Geneva, February j9, 1925.

19 February 1925[5]

13 December 1964[6]

The Opium Conventions after Second World War[edit]

After the second world war, the two Opium Conventions were amended to transfer the mandates and functions of the League of Nations and the Office international d'hygiène publique to the United Nations and World Health Organization.[14] Eventually, both the 1912 and the 1925 Conventions were superseded by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs which merged the Permanent Central Opium Board and the Drug Supervisory Body onto the INCB.

International Drug Control

International law

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

League of Nations

Office international d'hygiène publique

Timeline of cannabis law

Legal issues of cannabis

Archived 29 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, UN Chronicle, Summer, 1998.

The beginnings of international drug control

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International Opium Convention Signed at The Hague January 23, 1912

Text of the 1912 convention

Text of the 1925 convention

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Signatures and ratifications

. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 23 January 2009.

"The 1912 Hague International Opium Convention"

Opium Museum

Transnational Institute.

A primer on the UN Drug Control Conventions

Transnational Institute.

Losing Ground: Drug Control and War in Afghanistan