National opioid regulation is the set of rules, rights, and obligations of governments, entities, and citizens related to the importation, distribution, manufacturing, prescription, administration, and use of opioids described in legal documents called a legal framework. Documents in the legal framework include a country’s constitution, legislation, policy, regulations, and contracts.

International opioid regulation is an agreed set of rules, rights, and obligations between nations in relation to the importation, exportation, manufacturing, and trade of controlled substances (including opioids and others) as well as the rules that apply to the trafficking of internationally controlled substances.
The three major international drug control treaties — the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 (as amended in 1972), the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 — are mutually supportive and complementary. An important purpose of the first two treaties is to codify internationally applicable control measures in order to ensure the availability of opioids and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes, and to prevent their diversion into illicit channels. They also include general provisions on illicit drug trafficking and drug abuse. The 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances extends the control regime to precursors, and focuses on establishing measures to combat illicit drug trafficking and related money-laundering, as well as strengthening the framework of international cooperation in criminal matters, including extradition and mutual legal assistance.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2020 UNODC. Internet. Accessed on January 25, 2020.