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to get money to buy opium. I cannot work well when I take opium. In jail I feel better since I bave had to give up the babit. I will not use opium after release. If I do use it I will come back to jail again."
"I am 31 years of age. I inject morphia, four annas worth a day. I started morphia injecting at the age of 26. I never was in jail till after I began morphia injecting. My first crime was theft to get money for morphia. I will not use it on release. If I do use it, I will steal and come back to jail.”
"I am 54 years of age. I started using opium at age of 40. I eat two annas worth a day. I feel better when taking that quantity and can work well. I will use it again on release. The use of it had no relation to my crime of theft."
"1 am 25 years of age. I started opinm eating at 20. I eat two annas worth a day.
It makes me feel well. The use of it had no relation to my crime of theft.”
6. The conflicting statements made by those who eat four annas worth and more at first sight are somewhat puzzling and one might be tempted into saying that such is the idiosyn erasy of some opium eaters that they can use four anhas worth per day and yet receive benefit. This I think would be wrong, for I noticed that those who used four annas worth or more per day and said that they received only benefit from its use, were more or less recent admissions to jail, and had not been in jail long enough to have their strength built up, and the opium babit properly broken off, and they still have the craving for opium in them. The conclusion I have, therefore, come to is that while the use of opium to the extent of two annas worth a day may not be injurious, any amount over that is injurious both physically and morally and leads inevitably, in poor men, to a careur of crime,
7 So far I have dealt principally with the relation of opium eating to crime. As regards the physical effects, no one who has visited a jail can have any doubts as to the havoc it plays with a man's constitution. On admission to jail every opium cater has to be sent to hospital and he generally has to stay there at least a month. His physical condition is wretched. He has a poor appetite, he suffers from constipation or diarrhea or a peculiar colitis. He is a thin wasted miserable creature with sunken cheeks, hollow temple, projecting ribs, a flat abdomen, and spindle legs. He is filthy in his habits. His cloths are dirty, his body un- washed, his hair unkempt. As likely as not he gives a positive reaction to Calmette's tuber- culin test. He is quite unfit for work. His constant cry is for more opium. He can be broken from the babit in two months or less and in six months he is another being, he has gained weight, his body has a reasonable covering of fat, his bowels are regular, he takes his food well and he is fit for work.
Cocaine drug habit-Out of a total admission of 2,217 prisoners during 1910, I found that very few, not more than 20, admitted using cocaine. The results of my enquiries about cocaine are therefore based on the statements of this comparatively small number, together with the collatoral evidence obtained from opium eaters many of whom are well acquainted with cocaine.
Mode of use. The most popular mode of use is simply to eat cocaine Hydrochloride powder, others inject a solution of the powder.
!
Facial incidence.-The hahit seems to have caught hold of the Burmans more than the Chinamen, and the Chinamen more than the natives of ludia,
Age-The age at which Barmans start to use cocaine is very young. From 13 to 17 seems to be the favourite age. This is a great contrast to opium, the eaters of which, except Chinamen, generally contract the habit after adolescence is reached.
Quantity used. Here also cocaine affords a striking contrast to opium. While opium eaters have a fixed quantity which they consume per diem, the cocaine cater has no fixed quan- tity but eats as much as he can afford. Once he has contracted the habit he spends all he can on the drug.
Districts where cocoine is used.-- While I found that opium seems to be known and used in small jungle villages, it was very noticeable that the use of cocaine is at present restricted to the larger villages and towns.
Is cocaine habit on the increase ?-The unanimous opinion of cocaine users is that the use of cocaine is very ranch oo the increase in towns and the larger villages. It has not yet ousted opium from public favour because the opium habit, being older, has more victims of middle age, but among boys of under 20 years of age, in towns, cocaine seems to be more popular than opium. One pick-pocket of 15 years of Age volunteered the statement that in the district of the town where he resides there are eight boys of age similar to him. They all use cocaine. opium traders, now in jail, who reside in towns say that they sell twice as much cocaine as opin, and that they sell pium generally to men who have reached maturity but young lads are the chief purchasers of cocaine,
Effect of cocaine.Habitnés seem to use it for two purposes :----
Some
(1) For its local effect in producing numbness of the lips and mouth, a condition which
is said to render a subsequent smoke much more enjoyable.
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(2) Its general effect in producing intoxication.
Many opium eaters also use cocaine,
2. The physical effects of using cocaine do not seem to be so pronounced as is the case with the use of opium. Cocaine eaters seem, as a general rule, to be in fair health, but this may be attributed to the fact that as a general rule they are much younger men, and have not practised the babit for such lengthened periods as are found among opium eaters.
3. The impression I gained from my enquiry is that the cocaine habit is very much on the increase. At present in large towns the younger generation are more addicted to cocaine than to opium. The use of it has not yet penetrated much to country districts. People start the babit at an earlier age than opium eating and they spend more on it. I have no doubt that its effect on crime will soon be as marked as that of opium.
4. Put briefly the results of my enquiries are as follows :--
(1) The use of opium is at present more general both in town and country than the use
of cocaine.
(2) Opium caters are generally older than the devotees of cocaine.
(3) Opium eaters use a certain fixed quantity per diem, cocaine eaters spend all they
have on the drug.
(4) Cocaine is rapidly on the increase among boys and in the more populous districts. (5) The effects of opium on the constitution seem to be worse than the effects of cocaine.
This statement however needs modification i-
(a) because I have examined fewer cocaine eaters;
(6) because the cocaine eaters are much younger than the opium eaters;
(c) the devotees of cocaine have not practised the habit for such a long time as the
devotees of opium.
No. 919, dated
May 1911.
From-DE. LAWRENCE GEORGE FINE, M.B., C.M., Superintendent, Central Jail, and Civil Surgeon,
Myaungmya,
To-The Inspector General of Civil Hospitals, Burraa.
With reference to your Medical Department letter No. 0-5089-Confidential, dated 12th instant, I have the honour to say that my experience of opium eaters, almost entirely Burmans, has been derived from admissions to jail. I append a statement showing the number admitted during the past 3 years in the Myaungoiya Central Jail.
It will be seen that there were only 19 registered opium consumers out of 2
total of 626 prisoners who admitted that they had been addicted to opine prior to conviction, The quantity consumed is shown in separate columns from anna 1 to anything over annas 8 per diem. I am aware that the statements made by Beinsas (opium eaters) are usually unreliable, so the figures given in these columns cannot be accepted as absolutely correct, but as there was nothing to be gained after conviction by any false statement, the amount paid for the daily quantity of opium consumed by each man was probably approximately correct. It has however to be borne in mind that the price paid by an unregistered person would be much more than that paid for the same quantity got from a Government opium shop by a registered consumer, I am informed that the former pay on an average at least 4 times what would be paid by the latter. One tola of Government opium, roughly equivalent to 180 grains, custs one rupee when bought from the Government opium shop; so that a registered man who consumed annas 4 worth per day would use 45 grains per day. A non-registered consumer could not get this quantity (45 grains) for probably less than Re 1. I am informed by the Superintendent of Excise that there is probably not a single Burman in this district who consumes more than annas 4 worth (ie., 45 grains) per diem. The average daily consumption of Burmans, Chinese and Indians is given on the attached statement furnished by the Superintendent of Excise
here.
2. It will thus be seen that the conclusions based on the Jail figures alone would be fallacious as the price paid by an unregistered person would vary, Froin the Excise Depart- ment figures the average daily consumption of opium amongst Burmans in this district is not very high but quite enough to cause physical deterioration.
3. About 75 per cent of the opium consuming prisoners state that they first took the drug for the relief of pain or as a sedative. No doubt some of these persons have not spoken the truth, but I am inclined to believe that many have made a correct statement. The princi- pal diseases for which the drug has been taken are as follows :-
(1) Intestinal troubles, e.g., Colitis, dysentery, diarrhoea.
(2) Malarial fevers, both as a prophylactic and to relieve the muscular pains after an
attack or the pains of malarial neuritis.
477
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