CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922 — Page 43

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prepared opium were prohibited. Conditions as to the keeping of records of transactions and other matters were also imposed. For "the purpose of the Regulation an authorized person meant a duly qualified medical practitioner, a registered dentist, a registered veterinary surgeon, a person, firm or body corporate carrying on the retail business of a chemist and druggist under the Pharmacy Acts, er a person holding a general or special permit to purchase or be in possession of the drug. These two measures for the first time placed the cocaine and opium traffic in the United Kingdom under effective control, and put great difficulties in the way of their being smuggled into other countries.

Towards the end of the war a difficult situation arose in connection with the export of morphine. As a result of the war, largely increased quantities of morphine were required by the Allies, while at the same time the German supplies of morphine, which before the war were very large, were cut off. Further, the supplies of Turkish ind Persian opium, which in normal times are the raw material from which morphine is manufactured, were either cut off in the case of Turkey or endangered in the case of Persia. It became necessary, therefore, to take steps to ensure an adequate supply of opium, and arrangements were made with the Indian Government to send large quantities of Indian opium to England, to be used in the manufacture of morphine. (Indian opium is not normally used for the manu- facture of morphine on account of its lower morphine content.) Very large quantities of this morphine were supplied to our Allies. In 1916-17 the attention of the Government was drawn to the fact that large quantities of morphia were being exported to Japan and that there were grounds for believing that much of this British-made morphia was being smuggled from Japan into China. Accordingly, in 1917, it was decided that no licences should be granted for the "export either of morphine or of cocaine to Japan, except when a certificate was produced from the Japanese authorities that the consignment applied for was for actual consumption in Japan (or in Dairen and vicinity) and would be used for medicinal purposes only. A notice to this effect was published in the Times of 10th October, 1917.

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As a result of this system, exports of morphia to Japan rapidly decreased, falling from 550,000 ozs. in 1917 to 36,500 ozs. in 1918, and 5,686 ozs. in 1919.* The figures for 1920 and 1921 were 6 ozs. and 320 ozs. respectively. Exports of cocaine fell to practically nil, Exports to the United States of America then began to rise rapidly. increasing from 29,700 ozs. in 1917 to 58,000 ozs. in 1918, and 219,722 ozs. in 1919.* An arrangement was accordingly made with the United States Government for the introduction of a similar system of Government certificates, and the adoption of this system was immediately followed by a great drop in the exports from the United Kingdom to America, the figures for 1920 being 9,021 ozs. It was

* These are the amounts licensed los export and include exports through the post. In comparing the figures with the Customs returns, it must be remembered that the latter do not include exports through the post.

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also thought desirable to introduce a similar system of certificates in respect of Canada, which helped to guard against any illicit entry of morphia, into the United States via the Canadian frontier. This arrangement also produced very satisfactory results.

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In 1919 a similar arrangement was introduced with regard to exports of morphia to France.

It was obvious, however, that piecemeal arrangements of this kind would only divert and not stop the traffic. At the end of 1919 the Board of Trade, who were then the licensing authority, reported that large quantities of morphia had recently been imported by Switzerland from the United Kingdom, and that sudden rises had also taken place in the exports to Belgium, Denmark, Cuba and other countries. H.M. Government accordingly decided to approach all foreign governments with a view to the adoption of similar arrange- ments. Negotiations for the purpose have been carried on up to the present time, and agreements have been reached with a number of countries.

The progress of these negotiations has not been as rapid as the British Government had hoped, and, in the meantime, a careful watch has been kept on the quantities proposed to be exported to different countries. They have frequently experienced considerable difficulty, however, in connection with applications for export licences, in deciding whether the amount applied for could be regarded as being fairly within the legitimate medical requirements of the country concerned. Generally speaking, they have followed what may be described as a rationing system in cases where amounts seemed excessive, and where there was no guarantee from the Government of the importing country that the amount was actually required for medical or scientific purposes. In respect of morphine, which is the drug with which the trade of the United Kingdom is mainly concerned, a ration of ‡ grain per annum per head of population has been taken roughly as the basis. The method, of course, is at the best a very imperfect nake- shift. There is no definite guide at present as to what are the legitimate requirements of any country for the drugs, and no means of knowing what quantitice are being imported from other countries besides Great Britain.

Isolated action by one country can have no permanent effect on the international traffic while other countries allow free import and export of the drugs. Experience shows that the trade tends to be diverted to the latter countries (see below under Part V). This has been strikingly illustrated recently by the rise of exports of Turkish and Persian opium to the Far East, which has followed on the reduction of exports from India.

PART III.-THE TREATIES OF PEACE.

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At the end of 1918, with the cessation of hostilities and the lopening Af peace negotiations, the question of putting into effect the Inter national Opium Convention of 1912 again came to the fore. In a odroda addressed by the Ambassador of the United States of America the British Government in Aug 1918, it was proposed that the Allied Powers should declare their intention of putting the Convention

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