CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921 — Page 436

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government. }

OPIUM.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[137769]

433

C.O

[October 7.]

15732

SECTION 1.

[REG

NaF 1 AP! 21

Board of Trade to Foreign Office.—(Received October 7.)

My Lord,

Board of Trude, October 6, 1919. WITH reference to your letter of the 24th September, transmitting copy of a despatch from His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Tokyo relative to the trade in opium and morphia, I am directed by the Board of Trade to transmit to you herewith, for the information of Earl Curzon of Kedleston, copy of a memorandum on the subject of the exportation of morphia from the United Kingdom which has been prepared in the Board's Export Licence Department.

I am to add that a similar letter has been sent to the Home Office.

I am, &c.

H. FOUNTAIN,

Enclosure in No. 1.

Memorandum respecting the Exportation of Morphia from the United Kingdom.

THE increase in the quantities of morphia and cocaine, which British firms were endeavouring to export to the United States, was noticed by the National Health Insurance Commission and by this Department early in the present year, and on the 7th June last this increase had become so marked that the attention of the United States Embassy was drawn to the matter. Correspondence on the subject has since been proceeding, and the following reply from the Department of State in Washington has now been received by the American consul-general in this country:—

"While this Government cannot in any case give absolute guarantees that specific consignments of narcotics are needed and will be used in the United States only for proper medical and scientific purposes and not re-exported, this Depart- ment will not in the future instruct you to support the application of British exporters of narcotics who desire to ship specific consignments to firms in this country unless convinced that this is the case.

"In order that all requests from American firms for support of such applications may be properly examined, this Department is referring them to the Narcotics Division of the Bureau of Internal Revenue of the Treasury Department, and will only communicate to you for support such requests as receive the favourable recommendation of that bureau, after the receipt of guarantees from the interested firms and investigation through its own organisation."

It is hoped that the control which the Narcotics Division of the Bureau of Internal Revenue of the Treasury Department will exercise some effect in checking the re-export of morphia, &c., to Japan, which is suspected to be taking place.

The question of shipments of morphia, cocaine, &c., to Japan, via Canada, was dealt with by this Department and the Colonial Office in February last, and a control over such imports has now been set up by the Department of Trade and Commerce in Ottawa. No consignments of such goods are allowed to proceed from the Unite‹i Kingdom to Canada in the absence of a covering certificate from this Canadian Government Department.

A large increase in the quantities of morphis, which it was desired to send to France, was also recently observed, and the attention of the Foreign Office was drawn to the matter last month. As a result it has now been decided by the French Govern- ment authorities concerned that all such imports will be controlled by the Office des Produits chimiques et pharmaceutiques du Ministère du Commerce (Service technique, 3m section), and this department will not issue export licences in the absence of certificates from this French Government Department.

With regard to Italy no abnormal increase in shipments have yet been observed, and Italian shipments have not yet been subjected to special control.

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