CO129-477 - Public Offices - 1922 — Page 241

LOFY.

(F 472/472/10)

British Consulate,

"The Morning Oregonian"

Portland,

Oregon.

13th January 1922.

240

13/1/22.

Britain curbs narcotic trade

Consul denies charges made at Port land Conference.

BRITISH CONSULATE, Portland, Jan. 12

-

(To the Editor)

I

cannot allow to pass unchallenged certain statements of Mayor

Baker and other speakers as reported in the press in connection

with the narcotics conference held yesterday, that Great Britain

is responsible for a great deal of the narcotics produced and smugg- led into this country, and that she takes a leading part in forcing

opium on China and Inida. The facts are directly contrary to these statements, as Mayor Baker and the other speakers would have discovered if they had taken the trouble to investigate the situation before making such unfounded charges.

In India the opium trade is a government monopoly, and as

such, now carefully governed and controlled. Gradually the acreage

under the crop is being diminished to meet only the most essential

and legitimate needs for this drug. In proof of this it can be

shown that in 1907, 488,548 acres were under the crop, and in 1914 (the last year for which statistics are available) only 145,000 acres. were devoted to the opium poppy. In 1913 the opium export to China under treaty, was completely stopped, and no further exports to that country are any longer allowed. This utterly disproves the wild statement that India is forcing opium on China, or in fact, on any other country whatsoever. The difficulty is to resist the demand from outside, now that the production has so greatly de-

creased,

In

J