115
Copy.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS.
0.0.23(p) 6.
Geneva,
January 20th, 1927.
Translation.
TRAFFIC IN OPIUM.
ORT BY THE PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT FOR 1925.
A. GENERAL.
(1) In Portugal, the Madeira Islands, the Azores
and in the Portuguese Colonies in Africs, Asia and Oceania
(Cape Verde, Guinea, San Tomé, Angola, Mozambique, the Indies
and Timor) on opium problems exist. The only Portuguese territory
where they arise is Macao, in the south of China.
The Portuguese nation, not being in direct contact
with countries in which the effects of narcotic drugs are
apparent, had not realised until quite recently the necessity
of taking defensive measures to prevent the abuse of such drugs.
In ectual fact the habit of opium smokin is confined
to Asiatics in Macao; at the same time, the imports of raw
opium into this colony have fallen from 2,000 cases in 1912 to 800
cases in 1926.
Pathological cases of the abuse of drugs which must
not be confounded with moderate opium smoking, have only been
observed hitherto in the two big towns of Lisbon and Oporto,
and then only very exceptionally. They may be said to be
obvious only to doctors.
The measures already taken by the Portuguese Government,
moreover, constitute an absolute guarantee against the abuse of
alkaloids throughout the home and colonial territories.
This explains why Portuguese legislators have been
in no hurry to promulgate measures for the prevention of an
ovil which is of so rare occurrence and so imperfectly known.
Customs/