The
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 is an international
treaty to prohibit production and supply of specific (nominally
narcotic) drugs and of drugs with similar effects except under
licence for specific purposes, such as medical treatment and research. As noted below, its major effects included updating the
Paris Convention of 13 July 1931 to include the vast number of synthetic opioids invented in the intervening thirty years and a mechanism for more easily including new ones. From 1931 to 1961, most of the families of synthetic opioids had been developed, including drugs in whatever way related to
methadone,
pethidine,
morphinans and
dextromoramide and related drugs; research on
fentanyls and
piritramide was also nearing fruition at that point.