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financially interested and the desire as expressed by the resolutions of the commission that the opium evil should be eradicated not only from Far Eastern countries, but also from their home territories and possessions in other parts of the world.
During the investigation of the opium problem in the United States by the American commissioners, it became apparent that, quite apart from the question as it affects the Philippine Islands, a serious opium evil obtained in the United States itself, that this was primarily due to the large Chinese population in the country, to the intimate commercial intercourse with the Orient, and to the unrestricted importation of opium and manufacture of morphia.
Thus, the interest of the United States in the opium problem is material as well as humanitarian, and, as the result of the investigations made before the meeting of the commission at Sianghae, the Congress of the United States passed the following legislation :-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled-
That after the 1st day of April, 1909, it shall be unlawful to import into the United States opium in any form or any preparation or derivative thereof: Provided, that opium and preparations and derivatives thereof, other than smoking opium or opium prepared for smoking, may be imported for medicinal purposes only, under regulations which the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorised to prescribe, and when so imported shail be subject to the duties which are now or may hereafter be imposed by law.
Sec. 2. That if any person shall fraudulently or knowingly import or bring into the United States, or assist in so doing, any opium or any preparation or derivative thereof contrary to law, or shall receive, conceal, buy, sell, or in any manner facilitate the transportation, concealment, or sale of such opium or preparation or derivativo thereof after importation, knowing the same to have been imported contrary to law, such opium or preparation or derivative thereof shall be forfeited and shall be destroyed, and the offender shall be fined in any sum not exceeding 5,000 dollars nor less than 50 dollars, or by imprisonment for any time not exceeding two years, or both. Whenever on trial for a violation of this section the defendant is shown to have, or to have had, possession of such opium or preparation or derivative thereof, such possession shall be deemed sufficient evidence to authorise conviction, unless the defendant shall explain the possession to the satisfaction of the jury.
It will be observed that this Act excludes from the United States opium except for medicinal purposes. It is not unlikely that the Government of the United States may at an early date enact further legislation to place the entire manufacture and distribution of medicinal opium, its derivatives and preparations, and other habit- forming drugs like cocaine and Indian hemp, under federal supervision and control.
The United States, however, is not itself an opium-producing country, and in order to make its laws fully effective and stamp out the evil, there should be control of the amount of opium shipped to this country. To this end it will be necessary to secure international co-operation and the sympathy of opium-producing countries.
In the original despatches which led to the calling of the commission, the American Government considered the time had come to decide whether the conse- quences of the opium trade and habit were not such that the civilised Powers should take measures in common to control the trade and eradicate the babit, and the sugges- tion was made that there be an international conference to consider the question in its international bearing, and if feasible to draft an international agreement.
As, however, the Government of Great Britain intimated that procedure by way of commission seemed better adapted than a conference for an investigation of the facts of the trade and the consequences of the babit preliminary to any action by the Powers jointly and severally, and inasmuch as the material placed before the conference might be insufficient to arrive at definite recommendations, the United States modified its original attitude. Therefore, in the latter part of 1906, the Government of the United States approached several of the Powers more particularly interested in the question for an international commission of enquiry to study the scientific, economic, moral, and legislative aspects of the opium problem.
It was finally agreed by the Governments concerned that a commission should meet at Shanghac on the 1st January, 1909. The commission met on the 1st February, having been postponed out of respect to the late Emperor and Dowager Empress of China, and adjourned on the 26th February, 1909. After a thorough and
searching study of the opium question in all its bearings, the commission adopted the following resolutions :-
Be it resolved:
1. That the International Opium Commission recognises the unswerving sincerity of the Government of China in their efforts to eradicate the production and consump- tion of opium throughout the Empire; the increasing body of public opinion among their own subjects by which these efforts are being supported; and the real though unequal progress already made in a task which is one of the greatest magnitude.
2. That in view of the action taken by the Government of China in suppressing the practice of opium smoking, and by other Governments to the same end, the International Opium Commission recommends that each delegation concerned move its own Government to take measures for the gradual suppression of the practice of opium smoking in its own territories and possessions, with due regard to the varying circumstances of each country concerned.
3. That the International Opium Commission finds that the use of opium in any form otherwise than for medical purposes is held by almost every participating country to be a matter for prohibition or for careful regulation; and that each country in the administration of its system of regulation purports to be aiming, as opportunity offers, at progressively increasing stringency. In recording these conclusions, the International Opium Commission recognises the wide variations between the condi- tions prevailing in the different countries, but it would urge on the attention of the Governments concerned the desirability of a re-examination of their systems of regulation in the light of the experience of other countries dealing with the same problem.
4. That the International Opium Commission finds that each Government represented has strict laws which are aimed directly or indirectly to prevent the smuggling of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives, and preparations, into their respective territories; in the judgment of the International Opium. Commission, it is also the duty of all countries to adopt reasonable measures to prevent at ports of departure the shipment of opium, its alkaloids, derivatives, and preparations to any country which prohibits the entry of any opium, its alkaloids, derivatives, and preparations.
5. That the International Opium Commission finds that the unrestricted manu- facture, sale, and distribution of morphine already constitute a grave danger, and that the morphine habit shows sign of spreading; the International Opium Commission therefore desires to urge strongly on all Governments that it is highly important that drastic measures should be taken by each Government in its own territories and possessions to control the manufacture, sale, and distribution of this drug, and also of such other derivatives of opium as may appear on scientific enquiry to be liable to similar abuse and productive of like ill-effects.
6. That as the International Opium Commission is not constituted in such a manner as to permit the investigation from a scientific point of view of anti-opium remedies and of the properties and effects of opium and its products, but deems such investigation to be of the highest importance, the International Opium Commission desires that each delegation shall recommend this branch of the subject to its own Government for such action as that Government may think necessary.
7. That the International Opium Commission strongly urges all Governments possessing concessions or settlements in China which have not yet taken effective action toward the closing of opium divans in the said concessions and settlements to take steps to that end, as soon as they may deem it possible, on the lines already adopted by several Governments.
8. That the International Opium Commission recommends strongly that cach delegation move its Government to enter into negotiations with the Chinese Government with a view to effective and prompt measures being taken in the various foreign concessions and settlements in China for the prohibition of the trade and manufacture of such anti-opium remedies as contain opium or its derivatives.
9. That the International Opium Commission recommends that each delegation move its Government to apply its pharmacy laws to its subjects in the consular districts, concessions, and settlements in China.
Although no formal declaration was made, it was a matter of discussion, and was recognised by the commission as a whole that the foregoing resolutions, however
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