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success.
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and the inconvenience and difficulty involved in the repeated preparation of opium for smoking in the manner which is customary all over the Far East are so great, that these restrictions hardly fall short of legal prohibition; and though in a metropolis and seaport like Calcutta there is no doubt some successful evasion of the law, and other forms of smoking are known to be more or less prevalent in particular areas, y it would appear that the severely restricted policy which has been followed by the Government of India for many years past has been really effective. The underlying aim of the policy is, however, ultimate prohibition, and we are agreed that the time has come to cousider whether direct and unqualified prohibition of opium-smoking is not now possible, at any rate in a number of provinces. It would be premature to say more on this point until the views of the local governments have been received; but we shall adopt any recommendations in this sense which offer a real prospect of 5. In Burmah the conditions are of course entirely different. The Burman is akin to the races in the Far East in taking readily to the smoking habit, and in his case, subject to the registration of old consumers, it has been found necessary to prohibit the use of opium altogether, though prohibition has not hitherto been enforced against non-Burman residents of the province. Your Lordship is already well acquainted with the history of this experiment, which is conveniently summarised in the memorandum on opium in India presented to the Shanghai Commission.
We were already, before the receipt of the resolutions, considering whether it was not desirable to extend the policy of prohibition to Chinese and other non-Burmans living in Burmah, and we have definitely put this proposition to the local government in our letter of the 25th October, 1909. This would mean the absolute prohibition of the use of opium in any form except for strictly medical purposes for all races throughout the province. Whether the time is yet ripe for the universal application of that principle to Burmah, or how long it would take to make universal prohibition effective, we cannot yet say; but this is the end at which we should aim.
6. We now turn to the second of the resolutions dealing with matters of internal policy. In view of what we have said regarding Burmah our remarks on this resolution apply of course only to India proper. The British delegates stated plainly to the Opium Commission that they were "not able to accept the view that opium should be confined simply and solely to medical uses," and they supported this opinion by laying before the commission a very full analysis of the conditions which present themselves in India. They held that geographical and political limitations would make it impossible to prevent illicit consumption on a serious scale; that it would not be legitimate to withhold from the peoples of India a drug which is one of the main household remedies on which they rely; and that despotic interference with a national habit dating from a period long anterior to British rule could not be justified by any evidence of extensive social degradation or by the assurance of strong and genuinely popular support from Indian public opinion. We agree in these views. It cannot be too clearly understood that the "opium habit," in the ordinary acceptation of the term, is ordinarily not known in India. It is probable that the magnitude of India's production-mainly for China and the Far East-has led to an exaggerated estimate of the extent to which she is herself an opium-consuming country. The statistics laid before the Shanghai Com- mission indicated that between 1900 and 1907 the average recorded imports of crude and raw opium into the United States amounted to about three-fourths of the standard of recorded consumption in British India, excluding Burmah, though our population is nearly three times as great. The best estimates put China's consumption, prior to the recent anti-opium movement, at over fifty times as much as ours, though her population is probably not more than double, We think this comparison strongly confirms the view that the Indian consumption, notwithstanding the long period which it has had for development, is on a moderate scale only, and that the races of India proper are not irresistibly inclined to the abuse of the drug.
It would in any case in present political conditions be idle to consider any sugges tion for violent interference with the accepted usages of the people in this matter.
For these reasons we entirely concur with the International Opium Commission, who, while they demanded the gradual suppression of the practice of opium smoking, deliberately refrained from advising the abandonment of the policy of regulation by which the practice of opium eating in this country has hitherto been successfully kept under restraint.
7. Having reaffirmed our position in this matter, we can also express our con- currence in the view of the commission that it is in fact desirable that a country which professes to adopt a system of regulation leading to progressively increasing stringency
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should from time to time re-examine its methods and seriously consider whether they ought not to be strengthened and more fully enforced. We have accordingly referred that question to the local governments; and we shall give careful attention to their advice.
8. We need only briefly refer to the three remaining resolutions as we have already noticed them in stating our views on the proposal to convene an International Opium Conference at The Hague or elsewhere. As regards No. 4, we already prohibit the shipment of opium from ports in India other than Bombay and Calcutta, and such shipment is subject to the strictest regulation, the suppression of illicit practices in regard to opium being recognised as one of the most important functions of our preventive establishments. We shall be ready, when the time comes, to prohibit under section 19 of the Sea Customs Act, the export of opium, its derivatives and bye- products, to countries which prohibit their import, and we shall be willing to take all reasonable supplementary measures which may be required to make such prohibition effective.
9. As regards resolution No. 5, we warmly welcome the suggestion that an endeavour should be made by those countries in which morphia is manufactured to control its manufacture, sale and distribution in the country of origin, as we are convinced that unless the Western Governments concerned impose effective restrictions on their own manufacturers and traders, it will be impossible for Eastern countries like India to deal effectively with the morphia habit. Such action as is possible on this side is already being taken, as will be seen from the memorandum on morphia in India which was submitted to the International Opium Commission by the British delegates. The morphia habit, and the still more ruinous cocaine habit, though of comparatively recent introduction, constitute a graver potential danger than any which is to be apprehended from the use of opium as practised in this country, and protection against the illicit importation of such drugs may at any time become a matter of cardinal importance.
10. As regards resolution No. 6, dealing with the investigation of the properties of opium and of anti-opium remedies, we understand that the enquiry contemplated is one of a scientific character, to be carried out in Western laboratories, and that the main point which the commission had in view was the discovery of an antidote to the smoking habit. The question therefore only incidentally affects this country.
We have, &c.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
MINTO.
O'M. CREAGH,
J. O. MILLER.
G. FLEETWOOD WILSON.
S. P. SINHA. |
B. ROBERTSON.
J. L. JENKINS.
Government of India to Government of Burmalı.
Sir,
Simla, October 25, 1909. I AM directed to forward a copy of a despatch from the Secretary of State for India dated the 6th August, 1909, and of its enclosures, on the subject of the resolutions adopted by the International Opium Commission which met at Shanghai.
2. It will be observed that the Secretary of State has asked for a statement of the action which the Government of India propose to take in regard to the resolutions numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Of these Nos. 4, 5, and 6 do not call for present report from local
governments.
3. As regards resolution No. 2, I am to refer to the correspondence communicated with the letter from this department dated the 17th August, 1897, and to request that the Government of India may be furnished with a report on the possibility and desirability, in present circumstances, of prohibiting the smoking of opium to all classes in Burmalı. At present those Burmans only are permitted to consume opium who are registered as having been opium smokers prior to 1893, and this class will eventually cease to exist. As to the Chinese population, since under existing policy they are not to be allowed to smoke opium in their own country, there is no justification for treating them more liberally in Burmah. As regards natives of India, the chief difficulty will probably
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