The purchase and sale of drugs was considered legal until the 19th century. Beginning in the early 20th century, as the global community realized the destructive power of these drugs in human societies, initial collective measures were taken to impose restrictions on the purchase and sale of drugs. After that, and before the formation of the United Nations, several international conventions were concluded in the field of drug control. With the formation of the United Nations in 1945, the process of combating drugs took a more coherent form, one of its main features being the fight against drug supply. This article will answer the question of what approach the United Nations has adopted towards the fight against drugs since its inception, and what the main components of that approach have been, using a library and document study method. A review and analysis of the United Nations' collection of international documents, resolutions, and conventions on drug control shows that the United Nations' approach until the 1980s was forceful, strict, and focused on combating supply. After this decade, and given the results of coercive interventions against drug supply, the United Nations shifted its approach towards tackling demand.