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1.
RESOLUTIONS.
I. The Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium accepts and recommends to the L of Nations the proposals of the United States representatives as embodying general principles by which the Governments should be guided in dealing w question of the abuse of dangerous drugs and on which, in fact, the Interna Convention of 1912 is based, subject to the fact that the following rescr has been made by the representatives of the Governments of France, Germa Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal and Siam:
"The use of prepared opium and the production, export and import ni opium for that purpose are legitimate so long as that use is subject to: in accordance with the provisions of Chapter II of the Convention."
II. The Advisory Committee, appreciating the great value of the co-operation of Government of the United States of America in the efforts which the League ha the past two years been making to deal with the question of the abuse of dang drugs, expresses the belief that all the Governments concerned will be desirous co-operating with that Government in giving the fullest possible effect to the
vention.
III. In bringing the American proposals to the notice of the Council and the As
the Advisory Committee would recall that, during the two years that have cap since the Convention came into operation, it has worked towards the same by: (1) taking all possible steps to secure the adhesion of all countries to the f vention; (2) investigating the question of the world's needs of the manufact drugs for medicinal and scientific uses with a view to the eventual limitation of E production of these drugs; (3) recommending the system of import certifie arranging the exchange between States of information in regard to the illicit u in the drugs, and proposing other measures for securing international co-ops in suppressing that traffic; (4) inviting the Powers with territories in the Far E to review their requirements of opium, and submitting proposals for an int tion by the Chinese Government of the conditions in China, with a view to more effective application of Chapter II of the Convention and the solution of t problem of the use of prepared opium in the Far East; (5) collecting and pub information as to the measures taken to give effect to the Convention and the p tion generally in all countries in regard to the traffic, with a view to securing enforcement of the Convention.
IV. As a means of giving effect to the principles submitted by the representatives the United States and the policy which the League, on the recommendation of Committee has adopted, and having regard to the information now available, Advisory Committee recommends to the Council the advisability of inviting. (4) The Governments of the States in which morphine, heroin, or cocaine, and th respective salts are manufactured and the Governments of the States in whi raw opium or the coca leaf are produced for export for the purpose of s manufacture;
(b) The Governments having territories in which the use of prepared opium is te porarily continued under the provisions of Chapter II of the Convention the Government of the Republic of China,
to enter into immediate negotiations (by nominating representatives to form committee or committees, or otherwise) to consider whether, with a view to giv the fullest possible effect to the Convention of 1912, agreements could not now b reached between them:
(a) as to a limitation of the amounts of morphine, heroin or cocaine and their re pective salts to be manufactured; as to a limitation of the amounts of raw opium and the coca leaf to be imported for that purpose and for other medicinal and scientific purposes; and as to a limitation of the production of raw opius and the coca leaf for export to the amount required for such medicinal and scien tific
purposes. The latter limitation is not to be deemed to apply to the pi duction and export of raw opium for the purpose of smoking in those territories where that practice is temporarily continued under the provisions of Chapter II
of the Convention:
(b) as to a reduction of the amount of raw opium to be imported for the purpose of smoking in those territories where it is temporarily continued, and as to the measures which should be taken by the Government of the Republic of China to bring about a suppression of the illegal production and use of opium in China
4.
5.
6.
Reservation by the Representative of the Government of India,
The representative of the Government of India associates himself with the foregoing solution, subject to the following reservation regarding paragraph 1:
"The use of raw opium, according to the established practice in India, and its pro- duction for such use are not illegitimate under the Convention."
The Advisory Committee, having regard to the large amount of detailed information how available, recommends the Council to invite the Powers with Far Eastern territories where the use of opium for smoking is temporarily continued in pursuance of Chapter II of the Opium Convention, to enter into immediate negotiations, by means of calling a special Conference of representatives of these Governments, or otherwise, to consider what measures sould be taken to give a more effective application to Chapter II of the Convention and to bring about a reduction of the amount of opium used, and whether, on the lines of the suggestions set out below or on other lines, an agreement or understanding could not now be reached for the adoption of a uniform policy on the matter:
1. That the farm system, where it is still in operation, should be abolished and that the opium business should be made a Government monopoly and kept entirely in the hands of the Government.
11. As a corollary of paragraph 1, that the retail sale of prepared opium should be made only from Governement shops, and that all private shops should be abolished. Persons in charge of Government shops should be paid a fixed salary without any commission on the amount of business done, and therefore would have no temptation to push the sales.
III. That a uniform maximum limit should be fixed for the amount of prepared opium placed on sale for consumption, calculated according to the number of the adult Chinese male population, e.g., taels per 10,000 adult Chinese males in the terri- tory, and that the annual imports of raw opium should be limited to the amount required for that rate of consumption.
IV.
That the possibilities of the system of registration and licensing, which has already been introduced in some of the Far Eastern territories, should be thoroughly explored.
That the possibility should be considered of making uniform, so far as circumstances permit:
the price at which prepared opium is retailed in the different territories, and the penalties for infraction of the law in regard to the import, export, sale and use of prepared opium.
VI. That the interested Powers that is, the Powers having territories in the Far East where the consumption of prepared opium is still permitted, should conclude an agreement among themselves to apply the foregoing measures for the purpose of carrying out Chapter II of the Convention.
VII. That the position should be generally reviewed periodically by the Powers interested and the question of further reducing the maximum limit fixed in the agreement should be considered.
The Advisory Committee asks the Council to request the Governments to communicate their views as to the possibility of a total suppression of the manufacture of heroin or of its limitation to the minimum amount required.
The Advisory Committee, being convinced of the great value of the information con- tained in the annual reports which each Government has been requested to transmit to the Secretariat, once more recommends the Council to urge on the Governments the importance of sending regularly to the Secretariat such reports, which should contain the fullest possible information, both with regard to the production of and the traffic in opium and other narcotics.
The Advisory Committee recommends the Council to draw the attention of the Govern- ments to the extreme desirability not only of direct communication to other immediately interested Governments of the details of any seizures made, but also of a general communica- tion to the Secretariat of the League of Nations of all important seizures in order that the fullest international publicity may be secured by the transmission, with the consent of the Governments concerned, of this information by the Secretariat both to other Governments not immediately concerned in the specific case and to the Press.
The Advisory Committee recommends that the statement prepared by the Secretariat for the Sub-Committee on Customs Statistics, together with the memorandum prepared by
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