CO129-387 - Individuals - 1911 — Page 169

the

Medical Officar) and for the purposes described above

is illegal. It has therefore not been found necessary

to impose any restriction on the exportation of

opium since the amount imported depends on the purely

local consumption the maximum amount of which can be

ascertained.

The conditions in the Malay peninsula and in Hongkong

appear to preclude for the present any system of

registration of opium consumers, the object of which

is to compile a list to which no addition can be

made; the constant changes in the population of

Hongkong and the regular immigration of Chinese into

Punisalar

Malay [cannot, at present, ba made to lend themselves Z prevent the introduction of

such a system since under present conditions a

large proportion of newcomers are consumers of opium.

Should the cultivation of the poppy ever become extingt

in China and the importation of opium cease altogether

? omitt

36

it will no doubt be possible in time to establish

abolition by registration. But in the meantime the

Governments góncerned can only endeavour to restrict

the traffic as far as possible.

Both

AEL

Both in Hongkong and in the Malay Peninsula

the policy of the Government has been and continues

to be the restriction of the traffic so far as is

163

possible consistently with the prevention of the

substitution of morphia injection and other forms

of drug taking. The habit is already deplorably

prevalent, and smuggling is hard to check since

the packages containing the drugs are capable of easy

concealment.

Until the beginning of 1910 the importation, pre-

paration and sale of opium was farmed by the government

of the Straits Settlements to a syndicate, whose inter-

est lay in encouraging the use of the drug as far as

possible. By Ordinance No. 21 of 1909 the Government

took to itself the monopoly of the right to import, ex-

port, prepare, sell, and retail opium. Chandu, 1.9.

opium prepared for consumption, can only be retailed by

+ at a fried puce,

duly licensed persons and licences are required for

the maintenance of smoking divans. Only adult males

can buy chandu. Further restructions on the sale were

imposed by a heavy increase in the price which in 1910

was raised by 50 per cent and by the rigid suppression

of