THE OPIUM POLICY IN THE NETHERLANDS INDIES.
§ L In order to give due consideration to the opium problem with regard to the Netherlands Indies, it should be borne in mind that no opium is produced there. It is true that in former years the question Iwas weighed whether it would be desirable to plant the poppy, but Thitherto no trial has even been made.
Transgression of the prohibition to grow the poppy, issued in 1872, has never been ascertained. All the opium required, as well for medical as for other purposes, has to be imported from elsewhere.
Coca, on the other hand, is cultivated in the Netherlands Indies. Thus far, it has not been used for the manufacture of cocaine in the country itself, the whole crop being exported, either in the shape of leaves, or after having been worked up into coca extract. The manu- |facture of cocaine is not excluded, but is subject to a special licence,
strict supervision being, moreover, guarantied.
II. The use of opium, though imported from elsewhere, is fairly well known in the Netherlands Indies, and the natives were already familiar with it when the Dutch settled in these regions. The most frequent form of indulgence in this drug is the smoking of opium specially prepared for this purpose (chandu) and often mixed by the native population with leaves of some plants, cut fine. In very except- ional cases opium-eating is indulged in.
The use of other habit-forming drugs than chandu for non-medical purposes, has not penetrated into the Netherlands Indies, with the exception of morphine, which is used to some extent. This use, however, has not assumed any alarming proportions, and is chiefly found with one nation, the Chinese, and that mostly in districts where it is difficult or impossible to obtain opium.
III. The native Princes have always tried to derive revenues from the consumption of opium, and with the same object in view did the East India Company endeavour to secure the monopoly of the trade in this product, wherever possible. This monopoly continued to exist when the Netherlands Indian Government had taken the place of the East India Company, but, as we shall see below, grad- ually assumed another character, according as the ill effects of the use of opium became more manifest.
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