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 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which applied to cannabis-, cocoa-, and opium-based drugs. In 1988, the U.N. 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 U.S. Psychotropic Substances Act, the U.K. Misuse of Drugs Act, and the Canadian Controlled Substances Act.

On February 21, 1975, former US Attorney General John Mitchell, Nixon Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and domestic adviser John Ehrlichman were sentenced to prison terms of 2 1/2 to 8 years for obstructing justice in the Watergate affair.

Learn more about John Mitchell from the Washington Post.