VID SASSOON, SONS & Co.
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Hongkong,
A smoker may sometimes, when pressed for time, prepare a little opium in the office, & drink it to alleviate the craving for an immediate smoke.
The majority of opium consumers do not become slaves to the drug & eventually stop.
A considerable proportion are moderate consumers.
I find that, as far as this Colony is concerned, there are very few consumers who could properly be termed "opium sots".
It is not so, from the fact that a large proportion are moderate consumers.
I have known several instances during my many years' residence of men who have been opium smokers for from 30 to 40 years without any apparent harm to their health.
About 30% of the labourers, but only to a moderate degree, smoke opium. They generally go to an Opium divan after their midday meal, & after their day's work, to have a smoke.
Of the merchants, there are about 10% who smoke opium.
Among the Artisans also, there are smokers, though the average is not quite as high as that of the labourers.
The opium habit in these people does not, as far as I can see, cause them any significant harm.
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