International Opium Commission

The International Opium Commission was a meeting convened on February 1 to February 26, 1909 in Shanghai that represented one of the first steps toward international drug prohibition.

Hamilton Wright and Charles Henry Brent headed the U.S. delegation.

[1] The meeting was designated a 'commission' rather a conference, although this was the preference of the United States.

Having the status of a conference would have given it the power to draft regulations to which signatory states would be bound by international law"[1].

According to Paul S. Reinsch, the commission made these suggestions in its final resolution:It is the duty of all countries to adopt reasonable measures to prevent the departure of shipments of opium to any country which prohibits its entry; that drastic measures should be taken by each government in its own territories to control the manufacture, sale, and distribution of the drug; that all governments possessing settlements in China shall take effective action toward the closing of opium divans in the said settlements.