The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is a United Nations treaty designed to control psychoactive drugs such as amphetamines, barbiturates and LSD. During the 1960s, drug use and abuse exploded worldwide, especially in the Western developed nations. Availability of stimulants soared as manufacturers and traffickers took advantage of the inconsistent patchwork of national laws to circumvent restrictions on production and trade. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 could not regulate the plethora of newly-discovered psychotropics, due to its limited scope. On February 21, 1971, plenipotentiaries signed the Convention, which was worded broadly enough to be capable of encompassing almost any mind-altering substance. Today, 175 nations are Parties to the treaty, which contains import and export restrictions and other rules aimed at limiting drug use to scientific and medical purposes. Many laws have been passed to implement the Convention, including the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, the U.K. Misuse of Drugs Act, and the Canadian Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Psychotropic_Substances

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1644: The Battle of Marston Moor, one of the decisive encounters of the English Civil War, was fought near York. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor)

1839: A cargo of 53 African slaves mutinied on the slave ship Amistad off the coast of Cuba. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad)

1900: First Zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin)

1937: Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart)

1976: North and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_Vietnam)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom." -- Hermann Hesse (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse)