CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922 — Page 86

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and in nearly all provinces the amounts of raw opium which may be in the possession of an individual at any one time have been considerably reduced, as will be seen from the following table:-

Madras-

Limit of private Possession of Raw Opium.

1920-21. Tolas (180 grains).

1911-12. Tolas (180 grains).

6 (a) and 1 (6)

3 (a) and 1 (6)

Bombay

10 (c) and 4 (d)

3 (c) and 1 (d)

Bengal -

5

3

Burma

Bihar and Orissa

United Provinces

Punjab -

North-West

Frontier

3

3

13

from India were cut off, would have no difficulty in supplying the deficiency from these sources, At the same time, as will be explained in Chapter V., it is the policy of the Government of India to regulate the quantities exported from India to these countries according to the demands made by their Governments for legitimate requirements.

In the face of comparison it is impossible to understand why the finger of criticism should be pointed at opium con- sumption in India. No estimate can be given as regards China. That country has never ceased to produce opium, though the ludian product was excluded from her shores on account of her alleged determination entirely to extirpate native cultivation, and she has now returned to the position she occupied in the early years of the present century, that of the greatest opium producer and consumer in the world.

83

paar, obawny

Province

Delhi

Central Provinces

Assam

+

Ajmer-Merwara

Coorg

Baluchistan

20 | 210 10 20 20

3

2

3 and 2

3 1 2

may

The population has risen from 244,267,542 in 1911 to 247,111,563 in 1921, yet it will be noticed that the total consumption over a 10 years' period shows a slight decrease. In view of the fact that the price has been raised 50 per cent. in the same period, the failure of consumption to decline materially is proof that the Government have succeeded in their policy of confining it to a practical minimum, It Le remarked that the annual per capita consumption is at present 26 grains, slightly less than the figure arrived at by the Royal Commission in 1893, and little more than half the per capita consumption of the United States of America, as estimated by responsible American authority. Indian opium is not exported to the United States. So far as other Eastern countries are concerned, the comparison is more favourable still to India. As regards many of the Far Eastern countries for which statistical information exists, the Indian figure is only a third, a tenth, a thirtieth or a fortieth part of the per capita consump- tion in one of these countries. These ratios do not pretend to be strictly accurate, but for purposes of comparison they may he taken as approximately correct. It should also be noted that they take into account only the amounts of opium imported into such countries from India. Many of these countries also obtain opium from Persia and Turkey, and if their imports

(z) Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Godavari,

(b) Rest of the Province.

(e) Portion of the Thar and Furkar District, cast of the Eastern Nara Canul, (d) Rest of the Presidency.

CHAPTER IV.

OPIUM SMOKING IN INDIA PROPER AND BURMA.

It has already been stated that opium smoking is not a Custom indigenous to India It came to India as a foreign habit, took the form of social indulgence among the lower and dissipated classes, and has accordingly been the object of severe repression.

There is no difficulty in prohibiting opium smoking in a country where the consumption of opium in any form is prohibited except for medical purposes, but the fact that opium- eating is allowed in India rendered it very difficult to prohibit the actual act of smoking, as any attempt to enforce such a prohibition would obviously have involved domiciliary visits and interference with the private lives of the people. Short of this, however, the Government of India have done everything possible to stamp out the practice, encircling it with restrictions that fall very little short of complete prohibition. By provincial rules made under the Opium Act, the manufacture of smoking preparations is forbidden, except by an individual for his own use from opium lawfully in his possession, and the sale of prepared opium is absolutely prohibited. In addition, limits were prescribed for the private possession of preparations of opium considerably less than those fixed in the case of raw opium, and as smoking is extremely wasteful and consumes a far greater quantity of the drug than eating, this made excessive indulgence out of the question. Since 1912 the issue price at which opium is sold to the consumer has been raised to a considerable extent in every province in India, and the maximum limit of private possession of both raw and prepared opium has been reduced.