3
2
4. So far as our information goes, the chief firms exporting cocaine to this country are Messrs. E. Merck and Co., of Darmstadt; Messrs. John Dieder Bieber and Co., of Berlin; Messrs. Egmont Heydorn and Co., and Edward Bruckner and Co., of Hamburg; and Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome, and Co., Burgoyne, Burbidges, and Co., and Lorimer and Co., of London. Nearly all the drug imported into Rangoon is manufactured by the firm first named. Formerly cocaine used to be brought into Rangoon by steamer, via Calcutta and Bombay; but the traffic appears to have since been partially diverted to the Singapore-Penang route, and consignments of cocaine are said to have come also from China and Japan, and by direct vessels from England. Packets are hidden in fruit baskets, cases of matches, and other cargo, and in the coal bunkers, holds, and other parts of the vessels. The drug is most commonly snuggled ashore by lascars and firemen, but European members of the crews have also been detected in the act of smuggling and prosecuted to conviction.
5. These facts fully illustrate the difficulties of the situation in Burmah, and that the position in other parts of India is more or less similar will be seen from the extracts from the last excise administration reports from Bengal and Bombay which are also enclosed. In these circumstances we are convinced that our efforts towards the suppression of the cocaine habit in this country will be infructuous unless something is done to restrict the export of the drug and its congeners from the chief manufacturing countries (viz., Germany and the United Kingdom). We are aware that His Majesty's Government propose to bring the matter before the forthcoming Opium Conference at The Hague; but in view of the emergent and exceptional situation which has arisen in India, we consider it desirable that your Lordship should be placed in possession of the above information, in case any opportunity for taking action should occur in advance of that conference.
We have, &c.
HARDINGE OF PENSHURST, O'M, CREAGH.
J. L. JENKINS.
R. W. CARLYLE.
S. H. BUTLER.
SEYYID-ALI-IMAM. W. H. CLARK.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Extract from the Report on the Administration of the Excise Department in Burmah for the year 1909–10.
43. Cocaine.-Thirty-six licences were issued during the year for the sale of cocaine and novocain by chemists on medical prescription, as against thirty-one licences in 1908-9. Licences were issued for the first time in the Hanthawaddy, Henzada, Toungoo, and Meiktila districts. The restrictions imposed in 1905 on the possession and sale of cocaine have not had the desired effect, a large illicit trade in the drug has grown up, and the cocaine habit is spreading rapidly in the province. The total seizures of contraband cocaine during the year of report amounted to no less than 939,685 grains or nearly 2,000 ounces, as compared with 389,636 grains in 1808-9. In Rangoon town seizures have increased from 313,191 grains to 778,281 grains, and some 400 persons were convicted in the town for offences relating to this drug during
The collector, Rangoon, writes:-
the year.
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The illicit trade is in the hands of Indians and Chinese, and the largest consign- ments are brought in by the crews of Chinese steamers plying between Rangoon and the Straits Settlements and ports in China. A small quantity is brought in by the native crews of the steamers of the Patrick Henderson and Bibby lines.
The continued and persistent raiding of dens in Rangoon has had the effect of reducing the number of them. The drug continues, however, to pour in and is no doubt speedily disposed of in the districts. The habit has taken a firm hold of the people which it will take years to eradicate. At present it can only be said that some slight check to consumption in Rangoon has been given. Till there is a larger staff in Rangoon we cannot expect more satisfactory results."
In the Hanthawaddy district, in which the seizures have risen from 4,617 grains to 5,648 grains, the deputy commissioner states that the taste for the drug is spreading
amongst the lowest classes all over the district, and till the present staff is increased there is not likely to be any severe check put upon it. In the Pegu district seizures amounted to 43,200 grains as against 5,675 grains in 1908-9. The cocaine habit is reported to have spread there with alarming rapidity. An organised gang of smugglers which came to the district from Rangoon was broken up, the principals being convicted and imprisoned. Special efforts were made by the superintendent of excise to cope with the evil. Dens were constantly raided, and persons found resorting thereto were listed and kept under observation. In the Tharrawaddy district seizures increased from 39,230 grains to 64,708 grains. The taste is said to be certainly on the increase, and enormous quantities of the drug are believed to be imported into the district. The deputy commissioner states that the spread of the habit is so serious and so difficult to cope with that a change in the laws is imperatively needed. In the Prome district seizures have increased from 3,333 grains to 18,963 grains, and the habit is said to have taken quite a hold on Frome, Paungde, and a good many villages along the railway line, and villages adjoining the Tharrawaddy border. In the Irrawaddy division the habit was little known two or three years ago. In the Bassein district 255 grains were seized in the year of report, and the cocaine habit said to have come to stay. Small quantities were seized in the Myaungmya and Ma ubin districts, and the taste for the drug is said to be firmly established in the Yandoon and Danubyu townships of the latter district. In the Pyapon district, with seizures of 4,594 grains, the combined efforts of the excise and police have checked the habit in Kyaiklat town for the time, but attempts are being made to introduce the drug into other parts of the district. Seizures in the Henzada district have risen from 7,528 grains to 11,532 grains, the taste for the drug is said to be on the increase, and the habit is spreading to places outside Henzada. In the Toungoo district seizures have risen from 8,275 grains to 8,441 grains. Offenders were arrested in all the railway towns, but the drug is not yet known in the interior townships of the district. In the Yamethin district fifteen cases were detected during the year, and seizures have increased from 2,103 grains to 3,733 grains. The largest seizures were made in Pyinmana town, and the habit has not yet spread far north of Pyinmana. Vigorous and sustained efforts are being made by the excise staff in all the districts in which cocaine is found to prevent the smuggling of this drug and to stop the spread of the habit. So far the habit is said to be confined to the Pegu and Irrawaddy divisions and to the Toungoo and Yamethin districts on the line of railway, but there is a very real danger of further growth if additional preventive measures are not taken at once. As stated in last year's report, more excise officers are urgently needed in Rangoon town and the adjoining districts, and provision for heavier punishments is required in the penal sections of the Excise Act relating to intoxicating drugs. No sanction has yet been received to the proposals made to these ends. Burmiah is not the only country in which the abuse of cocaine has arisen, and the possibility of control over the centres in which the drug is manufactured seems worth consideration. Many of the cocaine consumers are people of the lowest classes who have hitherto been addicted to opium, but it is doubtful whether the restrictions on opium consumption have any close connection with the growth in the taste for cocaine. As pointed out by the deputy commissioner, Henzada district, with cocaine at such a high illicit price as 120 rupees per ounce, the ordinary -grain dose of cocaine costs 2 annas only, whereas little effect is to be derived from 2 annas-worth of illicit opium. If opium is to compete successfully with cocaine in the illicit market, the present restrictive policy must be abandoned, and even if such a course were practicable, it is doubtful whether there would be any real or permanent reduction in cocaine consumption. An expenditure of 2,344 rupees was incurred from secret service funds on the detection of cocaine smuggling, chiefly in the Rangoon town, Pegu, Tharrawaddy, and Henzada districts.
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Extract from a Letter from the Financial Commissioner, Burmah, to the Government of Burmah, dated August 15, 1910.
6. Paragraphs 42 to 44.--The growth of the consumption of cocaine gives rise to much apprehension. In proportion of value to bulk and in portability it is superior to opium. It has no strong smell which needs to be disguised. The habit of consuming and the excise it is undoubtedly spreading. The drug is comparatively new,
B 2 [2066 q-2]
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