International Narcotics Control Board

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent treaty body, one of the four treaty-mandated bodies under international drug control law (alongside the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, UNODC on behalf of the Secretary-General, and the WHO).

After the dissolution of the League of Nations in 1946, the Lake Success Protocol Amending the Agreements, Conventions and Protocols on Narcotic Drugs transferred the powers and mandate of both Permanent Central Opium Board and Drug Supervisory Board to a specially-created joint body to administer the estimate system. The functions of both bodies were merged into the current INCB with the adoption of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961, and those bodies were superseded when the INCB began its functions on March 2, 1968.

Initially, the composition of the INCB under the Single Convention was strongly influenced by the 1946 Protocol. It inherited mechanisms of nomination from the League of Nations and Office International d'Hygiène Publique.

The mandates and functions of the INCB were later complemented with the adoption of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances in 1971 and the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in 1988.

{| class="wikitable"

|+Comparison of the role of the INCB with its predecessors within the organisational structure of international drug control

!Organisational chart of inter-governmental drug control (as of 1935)

!Organisational chart of inter-governmental drug control (as of 2022)

|frameless|475x475px

Treaty mandates

The drug control treaties mandates four international bodies: the Board, the World Health Organization, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (nowadays represented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. The commission has power to influence drug control policy by advising other bodies and deciding how various substances will be controlled. Enforcement power lies in the mandate of each State Party to the Conventions. The Board has mostly a monitoring and surveillance role.

Responsibilities under the 1961 and 1971 Conventions

The INCB has a role generally similar under the 1961 and 1971 Conventions. The substances under scrutiny differ.

The 1961 Single Convention, Article 9 provides that the Board shall endeavour to:

Limit the cultivation, production, manufacture and use of drugs to an adequate amount required for medical and scientific purposes;
Ensure their availability for such purposes; and
Prevent illicit cultivation, production and manufacture of, and illicit trafficking in and use of, drugs.

But these refer to monitoring and advice, rather than enforcement. The INCB has no direct enforcement powers.

Articles 12 and 19 The Board can even "recommend to the Parties that they stop the export, import, or both, of particular psychotropic substances, from or to the country or region concerned, either for a designated period or until the Board shall be satisfied as to the situation in that country or region."

The Commentary to the Convention on Narcotic Drugs points out, "This is a very serious measure, and it cannot be assumed that the Board has that authority except in very grave situations". Decisions under Article 19 require a two-thirds vote of the Board.

INCB has been criticized for claiming being a "quasi-judicial" body whereas neither the three drug control Conventions nor ECOSOC resolutions provide it with such a mandate. In September 2022, Virginia Patton Prugh, Attorney Advisor at the United States Department of State, declared on the occasion of an intersessional meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs:<blockquote>Reviewing the many sources discussing INCB mandates, one would assume that the INCB has been designated to sit in judgement of MS in their effort to implement the treaties. If that it the case, it must be found in the treaties. But the treaties do not assign this role: it simply isn't there. The INCB is authorized to administer the system of estimates and the statistical returns, and to support the Parties in implementing the Conventions. But there is no text suggesting that the INCB is given quasi-judicial functions to interpret the treaties, or adjudicate their conformity or compliance. Read the text; look carefully at the words: we, the Parties to the Conventions, are responsible for implementing our obligations, and we are also responsible for interpreting them in good faith.</blockquote>The position that the INCB is not and should not self-define as a "quasi-judicial" body had been defended by civil society organisations

In the case of a precursor substance not yet regulated, the convention also requires the Board to communicate to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs an assessment of the substance if it finds that:

The substance is frequently used in the illicit manufacture of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance; and
The volume and extent of the illicit manufacture of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance creates serious public health or social problems, so as to warrant international action.

The Convention requires the Board to notify the United Nations Secretary-General whenever it has information which, in its opinion, may justify adding a substance to, deleting a substance from, or transferring a substance between, the Tables. The Secretary-General then transmits that information to the Parties and the commission, and the Commission makes the decision, "taking into account the comments submitted by the Parties and the comments and recommendations of the Board, whose assessment shall be determinative as to scientific matters, and also taking into due consideration any other relevant factors".

This role of assessment given to the INCB under the 1988 Convention was, under the 1961 and 1971 Convention, was reserved to the World Health Organization.

Notably, this Convention explicitly preludes the INCB from playing any role in the settlement of disputes between two or more Parties relating to the interpretation or application of the convention, instead leaving the resolution of these disputes to the Parties concerned through peaceful means of their own choice.

Responsibilities under ECOSOC resolutions

Structure

Membership of the Board

Article 9 of the Single Convention specifies that the Board shall be made up of thirteen members elected by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), including:<blockquote>That secretariat is an integral part of the Secretariat of the United Nations; while under the full administrative control of the Secretary-General, it is bound to carry out the decisions of the Board; The members of the secretariat are appointed or assigned by the Secretary-General; the head of that secretariat is appointed or assigned in consultation with the Board.</blockquote>The Commentary to the Convention on Psychotropic Substances notes, "Since the Board is not in continuous session and in fact meets only a few weeks each year, it has to delegate to its secretariat the required authority in order to maintain between its sessions 'the mechanism for a continuing dialogue' with Governments". Additionally, in 1990, the Board noted that "by decision of the Secretary-General, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna serves as Coordinator of all United Nations drug control-related activities." Resolution 1991/46 of the United Nations Economic and Social Council entrusted the management of INCB Secretariat to the agency known today as United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

|+Historical list of INCB Presidents, Members, and Secretaries

!Year

!Secretary

!President

!Member No. 1

!Member No. 2

!Member No. 3

!Member No. 4

!Member No. 5

!Member No. 6

!Member No. 7

!Member No. 8

!Member No. 9

!Member No. 10

!Member No. 11

!Member No. 12

!Member No. 13

|1968

| rowspan="11" |Joseph Dittert

| rowspan="7" |Sir Harry Greenfield

|1969

|1970

|1971

|1972

|1973

| rowspan="2" |1974

| rowspan="10" |Paul Reuter is an international import and export authorization system that uses an online platform developed in 2015 by the International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). I2ES is an online platform developed to facilitate and speed up the process of issuing import and export authorizations for narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances by competent national authorities (CNAs) of importing and exporting countries in compliance with the international drug control treaties. I2ES will allow CNAs to verify the authenticity of such authorizations and to issue endorsements of export authorizations in a secure way and in real time.

INCB Learning

Launched in 2016, INCB Learning is one of the Board's initiatives to assist Member States in implementing the recommendations of the UNGASS outcome document and the INCB Availability Report (2015). INCB Learning addresses the barriers to adequate availability of indispensable narcotic and psychotropic substances required for medical treatments, particularly by raising awareness and providing training.

Global OPIOIDS Project

The Board recognized early on that the alarming increase in overdose deaths from non-medical synthetic opioids threatened to become a global challenge. In response, the Board initiated its global Operational Partnerships to Interdict Opioids' Illicit Distribution and Sales (OPIOIDS) Project. The OPIOIDS Project is the only current international effort solely dedicated to developing partnerships with governments, international agencies and the private sector to share information and intelligence with the goal of identifying and interdicting illicit manufacturers, distributors and vendors of synthetic opioids.

The OPIOIDS Project supports national authorities and international organizations' efforts in preventing nonmedical synthetic opioids and fentanyl-related substances from reaching people, by:

Developing international agency and industry partnerships with those who have a practical role to play in responding to the crisis;
Increasing awareness regarding the nature and scale of synthetic opioids and fentanyl-related substances problem;
Supporting international initiatives that enhance information-sharing and facilitate co-operation for detection and communication of trafficking;
Promoting technical assistance and training programmes that ensure safety and security.

Project ION - International Operations on New Psychoactive Substances (NPS)

Project ION (International Operations on NPS) is the operational initiative of INCB, supporting national authorities' efforts in preventing non-scheduled new psychoactive substances (NPS) of abuse from reaching consumer markets.

Project ION activities are primarily engaged in the coordination, collection and communication of strategic and operational information related to suspicious shipments of, trafficking in, or manufacture or production of NPS. A specific focus is on synthetic NPS with little or no known medical, scientific or industrial uses and our activities are primarily engaged in the coordination, collection and communication of strategic and operational information.

Public-Private Partnerships

In recent years, voluntary public-private partnerships have come to play an increasingly important role in global precursor control. In this context, the concept aims at preventing the diversion of chemicals for illicit purposes, through cooperation between national authorities and the private sector. INCB has further expanded its public-private partnerships to include legitimate e-commerce and B2B operators, marketing and social media, online financial service providers, and express mail and courier services. These voluntary partnerships supplement the obligatory controls prescribed by the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic.

Controversies

Lack of "quasi-judicial" powers

The INCB routinely defines itself as a "quasi-judicial" body. The position that the INCB is not a "quasi-judicial" body had been defended by governments, The move to a more political role combined with a very rigid interpretation of the drug control conventions, passing judgement on states, is considered problematic.

In April 2003, former UNODC Chief of Demand Reduction Cindy Fazey penned a scathing review of the Board, accusing it of overstepping its bounds:<blockquote>Unfortunately these individuals also see their role not only as the guardians of the conventions, but also the interpreters of them as well. In their annual report they have criticised many governments, such as Canada for permitting the medicinal use of cannabis, Australia for providing injecting rooms and the United Kingdom for proposing to downgrade the classification of cannabis, which would entail less serious penalties than at present. These criticisms go far beyond their remit, and indeed it is hubris to criticise the Canadian Supreme Court.</blockquote>

Criticism of UK cannabis rescheduling

On the United Kingdom, the report of the Board for 2002 noted "the announcement by the Government of the United Kingdom that cannabis would be placed in a different schedule, requiring less severe controls, and the worldwide repercussions caused by that announcement, including confusion and widespread misunderstanding. A survey undertaken in the United Kingdom found that as many as 94 per cent of children believed that cannabis was a legal substance or even some type of medicine. The survey also discovered that nearly 80 per cent of teachers in the United Kingdom believed that the recent reclassification of cannabis would make educating pupils about the dangers of drug abuse more challenging and difficult. Several opinion polls taken in July and August 2002 found that the majority of the population did not support that reclassification." (Paragraph 499) Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Bob Ainsworth responded:<blockquote>The comments made in your report, your selective and inaccurate use of statistics, and failure to refer to the scientific basis on which the UK Government's decision was based all add up to an ill-informed and potentially damaging message. This was compounded by the way in which the Board presented the cannabis reclassification decision to the media at the launch of its annual report on 26 February. For example, the Board representative is quoted as having said that we might end up in the next 10 or 20 years with our psychiatric hospitals filled with people who have problems with cannabis, and that a recent study by the British Lung Foundation found smoking three cannabis joints caused the same damage to the linings of the airways as 20 cigarettes. These are totally misleading statements.</blockquote>In 2008, the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom recommended that cannabis be reclassified as a class B drug.

Position on personal cultivation of cannabis

In 2005, in the wake of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Gonzales v. Raich, the Board welcomed "the decision of the United States Supreme Court, made on 6 June, reaffirming that the cultivation and use of cannabis, even if it is for 'medical' use, should be prohibited." The Board's president, Hamid Ghodse, opined:<blockquote>INCB has for many years pointed out that the evidence that cannabis might be useful as a medicine is insufficient. Countries should not authorise the use of cannabis as a medicine until conclusive results based on research are available. Sound scientific evidence for its safety, efficacy and usefulness is required to justify its use in medical practice. Any research into cannabis as a medicine should involve the World Health Organization, as the responsible international health agency.</blockquote>INCB's rejection of the right to cultivate cannabis for personal purposes has been deemed to lack substantial justification.

In 2019, a month after the World Health Organization recommended to lower the scheduling status of cannabis and cannabis resin, the INCB reiterated its interpretation that laws and policies allowing for the recreational use of cannabis are "contrary to the international drug control treaties."

Access and availability of controlled drugs for medical use

The INCB has published several special reports on the availability of opiates for medical needs, going back to 1989 and 1995 and has repeatedly called for urgent global action to address the situation. In its 2008 report, noting that millions of people around the world are suffering from acute and chronic pain, the INCB calls on governments to support a new programme of the World Health Organization (WHO), which aims at improving access to those medicines. But a number of civil society stakeholders, such as the Senlis Council, has argued that the INCB is not taking seriously its responsibility vis-à-vis the global needs for medicines:<blockquote>The INCB is responsible for ensuring adequate supplies of drugs for medical use. Currently millions of people are suffering due to a mounting global shortage of opium-based painkillers such as morphine and codeine, especially in the developing world. The methods used by the INCB to calculate the amounts needed of these medicines are flawed and need to be reconsidered.</blockquote>A 2020 research found that "for fifty years, the INCB has focussed predominantly upon [...] illicit uses, with little attention to [...] therapeutic Uses. Decreasing attention is provided to the estimates of annual requirements system, under which global opioid access to opioids is documented as inadequate."

Human rights and transparency

In 2019, observers noted that in "recent years have seen the Board, through its annual report, become progressively more engaged with the issue of human rights." But issues remain open.

Opacity of the proceedings

Many observers and stakeholders have criticized the lack of transparency, accountability, and mechanisms for participation in INCB work, contrary to other United Nations system entities. In 2010, a report of the London School of Economics noted, "INCB remains perhaps the most closed and least transparent of any entity supported by the United Nations. There are no minutes or public reports on the deliberations of the INCB. The INCB's proceedings are closed not only to NGOs but also to member states."

The report noted the United Nations Security Council had transparency, accountability and participation mechanisms that are more open than those of the INCB.

Observers noted that as of December 2021, the situation had not improved.

References

External links

Official links:

INCB's Yellow list (Narcotic Drugs under International Control)
INCB's Green list (Psychotropic Substances under International Control)
List of INCB Annual Reports
YouTube channel of the INCB

Civil society monitoring pages:

INCB collection, by Transnational Institute Drugs & Democracy program
INCB monitor, monitoring INCB's activities related to Cannabis and hemp
INCB watch , database on the INCB by the International Drug Policy Consortium