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APPENDIX 'B'
While no evidence has come to hand to indicate that the complete refining process from raw opium to heroin has ever taken place
in Hong Kong, smuggled morphine base being used by heroin brew- masters here to begin the operation, nevertheless the temptation to do so must increase if there was a legal source of opium which could be tapped. Then the difficulty of a black market in the drug would almost certainly arise to service addicts wanting more than their ration, while the Colony's ability to prevent clandestine export for illicit international trafficking must be reduced. Whatever happened in the event the end result would probably be an imbroglio of the licit and illicit. It is considered, there- fore, that the balance of argument swings firmly against legalising the sale and consumption of opium in Hong Kong for pleasure now
or in the future.
Cannabis
8.
Cannabis more than retains its primacy as a drug of abuse both in terms of quantity and geographic sl spread. Under its various local names for example hashish, marijuana, charas, ganja, bhang, kif and yamba it is consumed by many millions of people throughout the world. It is non-addictive, has no tolerance and has only a moderate degree of psychological
dependence. In the opinion of the World Health Organization
cannabis has no intrinsic therapeutic value and therefore
virtually all consumption can be characterised as abuse. In
Hong Kong, cannabis, cannabis resin and all preparations of
which cannabis resin forms the base, other than extract or tincture
of cannabis, are classified as dangerous drugs under the Dangerous
Drugs Ordinance, Cap 134. The effect of consuming the drug,
usually inhaled here, varies according to the person and the
amount of tetrahydrocannabinal - T.H.C. for short-contained
in the quantity used. In general the immediate effects can be
listed as a feeling of relaxation, a breakdown of inhibitions,
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