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