2
Characteristics of Opium Smokers.
There are two main classes :----
(a.) Those smoking it moderately and who consume about 1 drachm a day; and (b.) Those smoking to excess who consume from 4 to 10 drachms a day.
In the former class, truth compels one to say a very moderate amount of harm ensues. Moderate indulgence interferes very little with a man's business nor does it curtail his life. In other words, it is not a physically harmful narcotic. While alcohol produces destructive changes in most of the organs of the body, and is a common cause of insanity, opium only exercises a functional derangement, and does not produce any changes that can be recognized post-mortem. The majority of smokers in Peking belong to this moderate class, but in the case of a heavy habitual smoker the effects are more pronounced. He has an unstable nervous system; his will power is blunted; his moral nature changed; and he will lie and steal to procure the drug, should it be from any cause withheld from him against his wish. He becomes restless and intensely anxious, depressed, and sleepless, and those symptoms are often followed by a form of dementia with chronic delusions of persecution. This last phase has been observed in many cases in Europe and America, but not to any extent in China so far, for the simple reason that opium takers have not hitherto had any restrictions placed on their consumption. But the other symptoms are well known and can be corroborated by those of us who are brought in contact with the cases of opium smokers who come seeking medical help in their efforts to get rid of the craving.
There is, however, a serious aspect of the question which does not seem to have been given its proper importance, viz, the national predisposition to the habit. (According to the estimate framed for the enforcement of the Imperial Edict of the 20th September, 1906, from 30 to 40 per cent, of the population of the Empire are addicted to the use of opium.) Hereditary influence brings about a condition of the nervous system, which, if once subjected to the exciting cause, develops the tendency rapidly. A Chinese child, the offspring of the opium smoking father and mother, and whose ancestors, for generations past, have indulged in opium, is born into the world with a tendency to take up the habit and with body tissues ready to adopt the use of narcotics that are wholly wanting in a European child-the produce of a non-habitual ancestry.
Accurate observation has long since proved that, while in one family there may be a tendency or susceptibility to one kind of disease, another family In China, may display a special capacity for transmitting another form of disease. every day sees thousands of children born, who, from the moment of their conception, have been formed and developed in the tissues of opium-smoking mothers, and who, after birth, are nourished during the first two years of life with milk from the same tainted source.
We are thus face to face with a national craving, a vice--call it what you will-which, by being allowed to persist so long, bas entered into the constitutions of nearly 40 per cent, of the Chinese people to such an extent that it has established an altered physical condition.
Before passing to comment on the means devised to carry out the actual suppression it might be well to consider the point that is being drawn attention to more and more daily the recent increase in the numbers of morphia takers. A plentiful crop of anti-opium remedies has sprung up, the majority of which contain morphia. In addition, the number of Chinese who inject morphia hypodermically has increased. Morphia is the crystallized essence of opium. It is the most enthralling narcotic there is. more than fills the gap caused by abstention from opium. A victim to this habit is infinitely more difficult to cure than if he were an opium smoker.
The history of indulgence in opium smoking in China dates from the reign of the first Ming Emperor (1628-44), when tobacco was prohibited; and the Chinese, feeling the need of some narcotic, after having mixed a certain amount of opium in their tobacco, took to pure opium instead, the use of which soon became most popular. It must therefore be looked upon as an eventuality, far from impossible, that another form of narcotic may supplant the present national habit, and this is all the more liable to occur among those who are being forced to abandon their craving by law.
The recent sweeping away of the old examination system has been quoted as a precedent to show that there is no need to fear China's ability to also sweep away the opium habit. But the cases are totally different, as in the latter one is dealing with an established physical need--a craving in a man's vital organs which is strong enough to impel the victim to use every means in his power to satisfy it-unless properly dealt with.
3
The various Imperial Edicts and official warnings that have been issued on the subject have been mainly confined, up to the present, to specifying at various times for closing the sources of the supply of opium, and to stating the limits of time for the abandonment of the habit by those who are victims. Penalties such as degradation from posts of office have been threatened, and, in some cases, have been exacted for non-compliance with the Regulations. The scheme of licensing, which is being tried, to be successful demands a co-operation on the part of smokers which it would be futile to expect a great number of them to give--the lower classes especially, who do not understand the significance of any individual moral obligation. In point of fact, trustworthy reports go to show that, except in a few districts, only a small fraction of smokers have as yet registered themselves and taken out licences.
So far no hopeful advice has been as yet tendered to the people (at least none that the unofficial and lower classes know of, as I have ascertained by personal inquiry) as to the proper methods of how to stop the habit beyond advising smokers to go into opium refuges or hospitals or to take anti-opium medicines.
Many officials have been able to give up the habit, some have tried and failed and been cashiered in consequence, and some have died in the attempt. The Edicts and Regulations as they stand to-day, as far as they apply to matters other than the growth, import or sale of opium, have done little more than express pious wishes, and they do not touch or affect more than the merest fringe of the opium-smoking public. It is fondly hoped that as the import and growth of opium are gradually stopped, the failure in supply will automatically cause a lessened demand. But this is more theoretic trifling with a problem which must be dealt with in far greater detail and in a much more practical way if any advantage is to be gained from the efforts now being made. In this whole question half-measures are useless.
I now come to the main object of this paper, viz., a consideration of the most practical way in which the Imperial Government can help the people to get rid of the habit.
The British Government has pledged its word that the supply of Indian opium will diminish pari passu with the diminution in the growth of the native drug. Very little foreign advice is needed by China as to how she can best accomplish this. In passing, however, one may cite the case of Seu Ch'uan Province, where, over twenty-five years ago, the Governor-General tried to stop the growth by posting official Proclamations prohibiting the cultivation, but his efforts passed unheeded, till to-day it is the greatest opium-producing district in China. But, with a frontier 7,000 miles long and a coast-line of 4,000 miles, habitués to the drug need have little to fear in the failure of their supply. The profits on illicit production and sale, the profits of smuggling will require the establishment of a very much larger special preventive force than seems as yet to have been estimated for. Morphia is at present being smuggled in extensively by Europeans and Chinese alike: it is becoming popular among the coolie class at Shanghae, numbers of whom have even taken up their residence in morphia dens (vide Shanghae Annual Health Report of 1907) and yet only 96 oz. of this drug are returned as being the sum total of its import through the Customs for last year? "In 1800 there was an Imperial Edict issued prohibiting opium from being brought to China in any ship. It was from this time that the more distinctly smuggling period commenced." (Vide Dr. Edkin's "Historical Note on Opium.")
This, however, is somewhat beyond my province, and would not be mentioned except to infer from it that the national discontinuance of the habit is not likely to be brought about by failure in supply, and will be at the most a curtailment-temporary diminution which is likely to recrudesce at any moment.
In my humble opinion, the great point for the Chinese Government to recognize is that its efforts to suppress the habit must chiefly lie in devising means to lessen the demand on the part of the consumers.
District agents from anti-opium bureaux in every town which in turn operate from a central bureau in each province are necessary to cope with varying local conditions and to get in closer touch with the people. Anti-opium societies do not meet the case; they are irregular bodies of men who do not work according to any settled plan, and their efforts could not be relied on, though they should not be discouraged in any way,
Therefore, the first and foremost point to be urged is that the Government should lay before the people a definite and decided plan of treatment showing them how they could get rid of the craving in the best way and with the least inconvenience to themselves. My whole argument is: (1) if you get rid of the demand, there will be no call for a supply; and (2) in order to get rid of the demand, the opium taker must be brought under absolute control for a given period of time,
[1980 c-3]
B 2
629
}
2
Characteristics of Opium Smokers.
There are two main classes :----
(a.) Those smoking it moderately and who consume about 1 drachm a day; and (b.) Those smoking to excess who consume from 4 to 10 drachms a day.
In the former class, truth compels one to say a very moderate amount of harm ensues. Moderate indulgence interferes very little with a man's business nor does it curtail his life. In other words, it is not a physically harmful narcotic. While alcohol produces destructive changes in most of the organs of the body, and is a common cause of insanity, opium only exercises a functional derangement, and does not produce any changes that can be recognized post-mortem. The majority of smokers in Peking belong to this moderate class, but in the case of a heavy habitual smoker the effects are more pronounced. He has an unstable nervous system; his will power is blunted; his moral nature changed; and he will lie and steal to procure the drug, should it be from any cause withheld from him against his wish. He becomes restless and intensely anxious, depressed, and sleepless, and those symptoms are often followed by a form of dementia with chronic delusions of persecution. This last phase has been observed in many cases in Europe and America, but not to any extent in China so far, for the simple reason that opium takers have not hitherto had any restrictions placed on their consumption. But the other symptoms are well known and can be corroborated by those of us who are brought in contact with the cases of opium smokers who come seeking medical help in their efforts to get rid of the craving.
There is, however, a serious aspect of the question which does not seem to have been given its proper importance, viz, the national predisposition to the habit. (According to the estimate framed for the enforcement of the Imperial Ediet of the 20th September, 1906, from 30 to 40 per cent, of the population of the Empire are addicted to the use of opium.) Hereditary influence brings about a condition of the nervous system, which, if once subjected to the exciting cause, develops the tendency rapidly. A Chinese child, the offspring of the opium smoking father and mother, and whose ancestors, for generations past, have indulged in opium, is born into the world with a tendency to take up the habit and with body tissues ready to adopt the use of narcotics that are wholly wanting in a European child-the produce of a non- habitual ancestry.
Accurate observation has long since proved that, while in one family there may be a tendency or susceptibility to one kind of disease, another family In China, may display a special capacity for transmitting another form of disease. every day sees thousands of children born, who, from the moment of their conception, have been formed and developed in the tissues of opium-smoking mothers, and who, after birth, are nourished during the first two years of life with milk from the same tainted source.
We are thus face to face with a national craving, a vice--call it what you will-which, by being allowed to persist so long, bas entered into the constitutions of nearly 40 per cent, of the Chinese people to such an extent that it has established an altered physical condition.
Before passing to comment on the means devised to carry out the actual suppression it might be well to consider the point that is being drawn attention to more and more daily the recent increase in the numbers of morphia takers. A plentiful crop of anti- opium remedies has sprung up, the majority of which contain morphia. In addition, the number of Chinese who inject morphia hypodermically has increased. Morphia is It the crystallized essence of opium. It is the most enthralling narcotic there is. more than fills the gap caused by abstention from opium. A victim to this babit is infinitely more difficult to cure than if he were an opium smoker.
The history of indulgence in opium smoking in China dates from the reign of the first Ming Emperor (1628-44), when tobacco was prohibited; and the Chinese, feeling the need of some narcotic, after having mixed a certain amount of opium in their tobacco, took to puro opium instead, the use of which soon became most popular. It must therefore be looked upon as an eventuality, far from impossible, that another form of narcotic may supplant the present national habit, and this is all the more liable to occur among those who are being forced to abandon their craving by law.
The recent sweeping away of the old examination system has been quoted as a precedent to show that there is no need to fear China's ability to also sweep away the opium habit. But the cases are totally different, as in the latter one is dealing with an established physical need--a craving in a man's vital organs which is strong enough to impel the victim to use every means in his power to satisfy it-unless properly dealt with.
3
The various Imperial Edicts and official warnings that have been issued on the subject have been mainly confined, up to the present, to specifying at various times for closing the sources of the supply of opium, and to stating the limits of time for the abandonment of the habit by those who are victims. Peunlties such as degradation from posts of office have been threatened, and, in some cases, have been exacted for non-con- pliance with the Regulations. The scheme of licensing, which is being tried, to be successful demands a co-operation on the part of smokers which it would be futile to expect a great number of them to give--the lower classes especially, who do not under. stand the significance of any individual moral obligation. In point of fact, trustworthy reports go to show that, except in a few districts, only a small fraction of smokers have as yet registered themselves and taken out licences.
So far no hopeful advice has been as yet tendered to the people (at least none that the unofficial and lower classes know of, as I have ascertained by personal inquiry) as to the proper methods of how to stop the habit beyond advising smokers to go into opium refuges or hospitals or to take anti-opium medicines.
Many officials have been able to give up the habit, some have tried and failed and been cashiered in consequence, and some have died in the attempt. The Edicts and Regulations as they stand to-day, as far as they apply to matters other than the growth, import or sale of opium, have done little more than express pious wishes, and they do not touch or affect more than the merest fringe of the opium-smoking public. It is fondly hoped that as the import and growth of opium are gradually stopped, the failure in supply will automatically cause a lessened demand. But this is more theoretic trifling with a problem which must be dealt with in far greater detail and in a much more practical way if any advantage is to be gained from the efforts now being made. In this whole question half-measures are useless.
I now come to the main object of this paper, viz., a consideration of the most practical way in which the Imperial Government can help the people to get rid of the habit.
The British Government has pledged its word that the supply of Indian opium will diminish nari possu with the diminution in the growth of the native drug. Very little foreign advice is needed by China as to how she can best accomplish this. In passing, however, one may cite the case of Seu Ch'uan Province, where, over twenty-five years ago, the Governor-General tried to stop the growth by posting official Proclamations prohibiting the cultivation, but his efforts passed unheeded, till to-day it is the greatest opium-producing district in China. But, with a frontier 7,000 miles long and a coast- line of 4,000 miles, habitués to the drug need have little to fear in the failure of their supply. The profits on illicit production and sale, the profits of smuggling will require the establishment of a very much larger special preventive force than seems as yet to have been estimated for. Morphia is at present being smuggled in extensively by Europeans and Chinese alike: it is becoming popular among the coolie class at Shanghae, numbers of whom have even taken up their residence in morphia dens (vide Shanghae Annual Health Report of 1907) and yet only 96 oz. of this drug are returned as being the sum total of its import through the Customs for last year? "In 1800 there was an Imperial Edict issued prohibiting opium from being brought to China in any ship. It was from this time that the more distinctly smuggling period commenced." (Pide Dr. Edkin's "Historical Note on Opium.")
This, however, is somewhat beyond my province, and would not be mentioned except to infer from it that the national discontinuance of the habit is not likely to be brought about by failure in supply, and will be at the most a curtailment-temporary diminution which is likely to recrudesce at any moment.
In my humble opinion, the great point for the Chinese Government to recognize is that its efforts to suppress the habit must chiefly lie in devising means to lessen the demand on the part of the consumers.
District agents from anti-opium bureaux in every town which in turn operate from a central bureau in each province are necessary to cope with varying local conditions and to get in closer touch with the people. Anti-opium societies do not meet the case; they are irregular bodies of men who do not work according to any settled plan, and their efforts could not be relied on, though they should not be discouraged in any way,
Therefore, the first and foremost point to be urged is that the Government should lay before the people a definite and decided plan of treatment showing them how they could get rid of the craving in the best way and with the least inconvenience to themselves. My whole argument is: (1) if you get rid of the demand, there will be no call for a supply; and (2) in order to get rid of the demand, the opium taker must be brought under absolute control for a given period of time,
[1980 c-3]
B 2
629
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.