International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 1, Winter 2019/2020 | Page 133

International Journal on Criminology the national level, allowed government representatives to circumvent or even break the law, stirred up cynicism and hypocrisy, and transformed law-abiding citizens into offenders. Gangsters became stars, and the authorities lost all power. A mockery was made of the judicial system. 23 Prohibition, which is an idea peculiar to U.S. thought, became established as one of the elements of the twentieth century’s political discourse, and it would be very widely used at the global level by regimes of all types to justify drug policy. This idea of “prohibition” would create many debates and lively and passionate exchanges between researchers and policymakers, but official international instruments on drugs would use that word only once. The word and therefore the concept used in international conventions is control. The concept of prohibition has distorted debate at the global level until the present day. In theory, drugs are not prohibited; they are controlled. Moreover, the word control features in the titles of the international conventions. 24 Despite the U.S. Congress’s rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, in 1920, the international control of drugs was placed under the auspices of the nascent League of Nations. The International Opium Convention, signed in Geneva on February 19, 1925, contained many provisions, including, for the first time, measures to control Indian hemp, as cannabis was then called. 25 Anslinger Starts a War On June 14, 1930, the United States decided to strengthen drug control via the Treasury Department, which created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to apply this policy idea. The bureau was led by Harry J. Anslinger, a supporter of alcohol prohibition and already an official within the Treasury Department’s Prohibition Unit. In his introductory statement, Anslinger explained that his job was to “pursue a relentless warfare against the despicable dope peddling vulture who preys on the weakness of his fellow man.” 26 The U.S. Government therefore chose to assert by all means the question of narcotics (at this time, the word drugs was not yet used) as a moral necessity, but in practice, it entrusted the executive implementation of this policy to a Treasury Department that pulled economic levers only. There was already a Narcotics Division 23 Prohibition, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, United States, 2011, documentary film; the quoted text is the presentation of the film. 24 https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/Int_Drug_Control_Conventions/Ebook/ The_International_Drug_Control_Conventions_E.pdf. 25 https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/Int_Drug_Control_Conventions/Ebook/ The_International_Drug_Control_Conventions_E.pdf. 26 Grass, directed by Ron Mann, Canada, 1999, documentary film. 128