:
(4)
Laboratory of the Home Department examines the quantity of morphine in the opium mentioned in the preceding paragraph and makes therefrom medicinal opium (containing from 10 to 11 per cent. of morphine) according to the prescription of the Japanese Pharma- copoeia, in three sets of bottles, the first containing five granimes, the second 25 grammes and the third 450 grammes. These bottles are sealed with Government labels and have prices marked on them. They are sold in quantities applied for by local governors to dealers designated by them, and these dealers must report to the local governors the quantities sold by them every year.
Sale of Medicinal Opium. A medical practitioner, a dental or veterinary surgeon, a pharmacist, or a medicine-manufacturer, who requires medicinal opium must purchase it from a dealer therein (who is a pharmacist or a druggist) designated by the local governor, by presenting an application with his seal affixed thereto, stating the quantity required, object of its use, his name, occupation, and the locality of his office or place of business, and date of application, and certified if the quantity exceeds fifty grammes, by the local governor, and if it does not exceed that quantity, by the police authorities having jurisdiction; a provision is made, however, that if a medical practitioner or a pharmacist is in urgent need of opium for compounding purposes and has no time to apply for certification by the administrative authorities, he may dispense with such certification if the quantity required is a bottle of five grammes; but the quantity so obtainable is restricted to five bottles a year.
A dealer in medicinal opium must not sell it at a price higher than that set by the Government, and must not without a just cause refuse to sell it.
Importation and Exportation of Opium. It is absolutely forbidden to import opium except by the Government or persons acting under Government orders. As to its exportation, in the case of medicinal opium, the dealer therein may export it with
( 5 )
the permission of the Minister for Home Affairs when it is needed for compounding purposes by a medical practitioner, a dental or veterinary surgeon, or a pharmacist in a foreign country who is a Japanese subject; but in such case the order must be certified by the Japanese Consul or other Japanese authorities of the user's place of business. Thus it is made absolutely impossible to ex- port opium to foreigners.
Government Sale of Opium for Manufacture of Medicines ! The Government sale of opium for manufacture of medicines was commenced when a portion of the Opium Law was amended for that purpose in 1917. The reason therefor was that in view of the effects of the European War upon our medicine trade, the Government decided to protect and encourage the manufacture of medicines generally, issued the Law for the Encouragement of the Manufacture of Dyes and Medicines in 1915, and recognized the necessity of selling opium for the manufacture of medicines, as material for the manufacture of morphine salts and their derivatives. But with regard to this sale, as it was necessary for the purpose of control to restrict the qualifications and number of persons to whom the opium was to be sold, the Minister for Home Affairs specially designated four medicine-manufacturing companies of high credit and decided to sell to them the opium required for the manufacture of morphine and other opium alkaloid salts and their derivatives up to an amount not exceeding the estimated demand therefor in the country; and the opium for the purpose has been imported by trading companies considered suitable by the Govern- ment, or the above mentioned medicine-manufacturing companies acting as its agents and sold to the latter companies at a price equal to the actual cost; and to the manufactories Government officials are sent from time to time to inspect their work. If a designated company neglects to follow the provisions of the Opium Law or to obey the orders of the Minister for Home Affairs, its designation may be cancelled.
75