Convention on Psychotropic Substances signed

On February 21, 1971, the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed in Vienna, Austria. The Convention was promulgated to regulate psychotropic drugs, extending the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which applied to cannabis-, cocoa-, and opium-based drugs. In 1988, the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was promulgated to address international drug manufacture, possession, and distribution, primarily in organized crime.

175 nations are now parties to the Convention. Member nations have implemented the Convention in the form of domestic laws such as the US Psychotropic Substances Act, the UK Misuse of Drugs Act, and the Canadian Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).