CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923 — Page 613

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cines (excepting medicinal opium) mentioned in chapter III of the International Opium Treaty, and the restriction of exportation and importation and control of other matters as prescribed in the ordinance are being carried into ef- fect. The principal points of the ordinance are as follows;"

1.

2.

IMPORTATION OF MORPHINE, &C. A person who proposes to import morphine &c. from a foreign country or a colony must obtain the permission of the Minister for Home Affairs; and the Home Department makes it a rule to decide whether to give the permission or not by computing the amount of the medicine in store in the country and estimated amount of its demand, and by considering the credit of the applicant. In the case of morphine and heroin salts, as there is a plentiful supply in store and there is a fairly large production in the country, permission for importation has been withheld since the coming into operation of the de- partmental ordinance. In the case of cocaine salts, as the amount in store at the time the ordinance came into operation was not large, and was considered in- sufficient to meet the demand at home, permission for its importation within a fixed amount was given last year, but as there has been an increase in home manu- facture, it has been decided not to permit importation during the current year.

EXPORTATION OF MORPHINE, &C. Exportation also re- quires the permission of the Minister for Home Affairs; and the application for exportation is not granted un- less it is accompanied by a certificate of permission from the competent authorities of the place of importa tion; and further, if the quantity is considered ex- cessive, or in other cases if deemed necessary, the quantity may be revised or the permission withheld.

MANUFACTURE OF MORPHINE, &C. The departmental or- dinance merely prescribes the making of a report for manufacture; but as a matter of fact, these medicines, with the exception of cocaine are made from opium, and as opium for medicine manufacture is sold in fixed quantities every year, as already stated in connection with the control of opium, only to the four medicine- manufacturing companies specially designated by the Minister for Home Affairs, these medicines cannot be manufactured by other than these four companies. And as for importation of coca leaves, crude cocaine and ecgonine, from which cocaine is made, since the per- mission of the Minister for Home Affairs is required