The Convention also stressed the need for cooperation between countries in preventing the use of narcotic substances for purposes other than designated. It stipulated that the exchange of information about laws and decisions on the implementation of the proclaimed principles (using the services of Secretary General) would be a concrete form of this cooperation.

To put it in a nutshell, the Convention defined the content and forms of realization of international control over narcotics. It introduced a system of licensing and recording foreign trade operations of drugs and obliged the member countries to submit detailed statistics about such operations.

The convention on the limitation of production and the regulation of the distribution of narcotic substances signed on July 13th 1931 in Geneva proved to be another link in the international control system.

The Convention of 1931:

That Convention meant to introduce amendments to the two already existing conventions in force, those of 1912 and of 1925. It contained the following additions: uniform definition of notions, through the control over drugs. Alternative versions of such notions as "production", "refining", "processing", "storage reserves", "state storage reserves", "import-export" and others were removed. For the first time, a list of medicines containing drugs was established and production, processing, use, exportation and importation of them would now be controlled. The system of evaluating and estimating the overall demand for drugs in all countries regardless of their membership in the given Convention was perfected. Accountability for the commitments of member governments was enhanced. A special agency, the Control Commission, was set up to study data from governments about the quantity of narcotics and accounts about their receipt and use. In case the Commission found any deviations or the demand for drugs was too large in its judgment, the Commission had the right to question the examined figures and carry out its own calculations. The extradition of criminals was envisaged (under certain conditions) for committing crimes linked to drugs. The convention stipulated that member-countries had to have norms in their national legislation concerning the criminal punishment of persons who encouraged the illegal spread of the most dangerous forms of drugs.

The Convention also contained some administrative decisions aimed at perfecting the domestic control over drugs. It urged member-countries, in particular, to set up a special body that was to apply the Convention's decisions; regulate, supervise and control the trade in medicines on the Convention's list; act against toxicomania using all possible measures for halting its development, and bar, in particular, the illegal trafficking of toxic substances.

Under the Convention cooperation between member-countries expanded considerably. Along with the traditional exchange of the texts of legal acts, an annual report was to be submitted to the Secretary General of the League of Nations about the Convention's implementation on the territories of the member-states. The report was to be compiled in accordance with the model agreed upon by the Consultative Commission on the Turnover of Opium and other medicines containing harmful substances.

The contracting parties also pledged to inform each other, through the office of the League of Nations Secretary General, about all the important cases of illegal drug trafficking. These reports had to highlight sources or methods of illegal trafficking, the nature and the amount of drugs, the time and place of their discovery, smuggling methods and sanctions and measures in acted by the government.

The Geneva Convention of 1936:

The convention against illegal trade in drastic medicines signed on 26th June 1936 in Geneva became the next important document.

That Convention introduced a number of new essential amendments corresponding with its title containing the word 'struggle', which opened a prospect for a juridical cooperation in campaigns against drug abuse. The range of crimes subject to prosecution was outlined and expanded considerably. Contracting parties pledged to prosecute persons engaged in the illegal manufacture, storage, shipment, exportation, sale or purchase of drugs or who organized conspiracies with the aim of premeditated participation in the illegal drug trade. The Convention also provided for the extension of reciprocal legal assistance through the exchange of necessary information to identify and arrest criminals and extradite them to a foreign country.

World War II pushed the problems of international cooperation and control of narcotic substances to the background. But right after the end of the war this problem came to the foreground once again. In view of this, some international acts were adopted that regulated relations in the area of narcotics. The following documents seem to be of interest.

The Protocols of 1946 and of 1948:

The Protocol on Drugs signed in Lake Success (New York) on 11th December, 1946 provided for the introduction of changes into the agreements, conventions and protocols on drugs signed in the Hague on 23d January 1912; in Geneva - on 11th February 1925, 19th February 1925 and 13th July 1931; in Bangkok - on 27th November 1931 and in Geneva - on 26th June 1936. The Protocol on Drugs covered issues that arose in view of the dissolution of the League of Nations and the transferring of some of its drug control functions to the Organization of United Nations, the World Health Organization or its Interim Committee, and of the transferring of duties of the League of Nations Secretary General- to the UN Secretary General. The Protocol was the first UN document that introduced necessary re-naming although in reality changed nothing in the system of control and cooperation that existed hitherto.

The Protocol signed in Paris on 19th November 1948 dealt with the establishment of international control on medicines that were not put on the list of the 1931 Convention which limited the production and regulated the distribution of narcotics (changes to this Protocol were introduced by the 1946 Lake Success Protocol).

The signatories of this Protocol pledged to inform the UN about any substance that could possibly be abused and also to spread control onto synthetic drugs that had appeared by the time of the signing, and had not been previously listed in earlier international regulations.

Discussion of drug issues at the international level and the adoption of decisions under international law brought national legislation closer together, helped define priorities of the anti-narcotics movement, form an understanding of the danger posed by narcotics and control the lists of narcotics whose manufacture and use was subject to international control.

Yet, the existence of such simultaneously operating legal acts and international bodies failed to ensure sufficient legal regulation and control of all the issues connected with narcotics. This failure created certain difficulties for exercising control over drug abuse. The existing international acts also lagged behind the realities of life.