WHO Expert Committee On Drug Dependence

Since its first meeting in 1949, the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, which consists of a group of internationally recognized authorities on the medical and pharmaceutical aspects of psychoactive substances, has played a central role in the global drug control system. The Committee has regularly recommended the classification of psychoactive substances according to the drug control conventions in force at different times, conventions which the Committee has typically helped to formulate. In this report, the Committee reviews three previously identified substances for inclusion in the drug control schedules and makes a preliminary analysis of other substances that may be reviewed in the future. The report also makes recommendations concerning a proposal of the Government of Spain to extend control collectively to isomers, esters, ethers and pharmacological analogues of psychotropic substances under control. The Committee further examines the feasibility of controlling tobacco under the existing drug control conventions.