E. 5
V.-HEROIN.
27. The traffic in heroin pills did not increase in Hong Kong during the year under review. Although there was an increase in the number of cases, this was entirely due to intensive operations against the manufacturers and smugglers of the drug. Altogether, 2,713,181 pills were seized in 671 cases, and the majority of these pills were found in heroin factories.
As reported in 1937, factories were again discovered which made pink pills containing all the usual ingredients of the heroin pill except heroin. It is not known whether the pills were being made owing to a shortage of heroin, or with the object of defrauding smokers. In some cases genuine and imitation pills were found mixed in the same container. In several cases factories were located in European style houses which manufacturers hoped would be above suspicion. Intensive detective work has forced many manufacturers to abandon operations in urban areas and remove out into the country in the hope that there they will be safe from the unwelcome attentions of the law.
28. There were three seizures of heroin during the year, but the amount involved was not large. In one case, a room had been engaged in a Chinese hotel and was used as a meeting place between the seller and buyer. The buyer was arrested and convicted; the seller unfortunately escaped.
In another case a Chinese male was arrested in a tenement house in a slum quarter. He was found in possession of heroin and other pill ingredients which he supplied on a small scale to pill factories. He was convicted by the court.
29. Heroin Pill Divans. It is estimated that there are over 1,000 pill divans in operation in the Colony, whose clients are usually young persons and females. Refugees have added largely to the numbers of smokers, and it is thought that there are at least 30,000 addicts whose daily consumption in pills must be more than 300,000. They, of course, do not include casual smokers.
During the latter half of the year an intensive campaign has been inaugurated against these divans, and as a result of new legislation which makes the possession of heroin pipes illegal and imposes heavy penalties on principal tenants and landlords who knowingly allow their premises to be used for the purposes of smoking heroin pills, the situation has become much easier. Recently this department has been inundated with complaints from landlords whose premises were being used as divans and very satisfactory results have been obtained in raids as a consequence. Many divans have been forced to close up altogether, and others, which were formerly in the habit of remaining open all day and night, have restricted their hours to the evening, hoping that they will then be free from the attention of the raiding officers.
VI. OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS.
30. There were no seizures of crude morphia or morphine pills for the year, neither was there any evidence of such imports into the Colony.
VII. THE NEW TERRITORIES.
31. The revenue station at Sheung Shui maintained its usefulness and the number of seizures and arrests have increased. (One interesting and unusual feature was the fact that, during November and December of this year, opium was seized in the New Territories in the process of being smuggled over the frontier into China, which reverses the usual procedure of smuggling Chinese opium into Hong Kong. This was due primarily to the acute shortage of opium in Kwang Tung as a result of the breakdown in communications owing to the Sino-Japanese hostilities.)
E. 5
V.-HEROIN.
27. The traffic in heroin pills did not increase in Hong Kong during the year under review. Although there was an increase in the number of cases, this was entirely due to intensive operations against the manufacturers and smugglers of the drug. Altogether, 2,713,181 pills were seized in 671 cases, and the majority of these pills were found in heroin factories.
As reported in 1937, factories were again discovered which made pink pills containing all the usual ingredients of the heroin pill except heroin. It is not known whether the pills were being made owing to a shortage of heroin, or with the object of defrauding smokers. In some cases genuine and imitation pills were found mixed in the same container. In several cases factories were located in European style houses which manufacturers hoped would be above suspicion. Intensive detective work has forced many manufacturers to abandon operations in urban areas and remove out into the country in the hope, that there they will be safe from the unwelcome attentions of the law.
28. There were three seizures of heroin during the year, but the amount involved was not large. In one case, a room had been engaged in a Chinese hotel and was used as a meeting place between the seller and buyer. The buyer was arrested and convicted; the seller unfortunately escaped.
In another case a Chinese male was arrested in a tenement house in a slum quarter. He was found in possession of heroin and other pill ingredients which he supplied on a small scale to pill factories. He was convicted by the court.
29.
Heroin Pill Divans. It is estimated that there are over 1,000 pill divans in operation in the Colony, whose clients are usually young persons and females. Refugees have added largely to the numbers of smokers, and it is thought that there are at least 30,000 addicts whose daily consumption in pills must be more than 300,000. They, of course, do not include casual smokers.
During the latter half of the year an intensive campaign has been inaugurated against these divans, and as a result of new legislation which makes the possession of heroin pipes illegal and imposes heavy penalties on principal tenants and landlords who knowingly allow their premises to be used for the purposes of smoking heroin pills, the situation has become much easier. Recently this department has been inundated with complaints from landlords whose premises were being used as divans and very satisfactory results have been obtained in raids as a consequence. Many divans have been forced to close up altogether, and others, which were formerly in the habit of remaining open all day and night, have restricted their hours to the evening, hoping that they will then be free from the attention of the raiding officers.
VI. OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS.
30. There were no seizures of crude morphia or morphine pills for the year, neither was there any evidence of such imports into the Colony.
VII. THE NEW TERRITORIES.
31. The revenue station at Sheung Shui maintained its usefulness and the number of seizures and arrests have increased. (One interesting and unusual feature was the fact that, during November and December of this year, opium was seized in the New Territories in the process of being smuggled over the frontier into China, which reverses the usual procedure of smuggling Chinese opium into Hong Kong. This was due primarily to the acute shortage of opium in Kwang Tung as a result of the breakdown in communications owing to the Sino-Japanese hostilities.)
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