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Sir Malcolm Delevingne replied to these objections.
The British Government took the view that as long as the drugs were manufactured greatly in excess of the amounts required for legitimate, medical and scientific purposes, it would be impossible to prevent the traffic in them for illicit purposes. The limitation of the manufacture of the drugs to the amounts required for medical and scientific purposes was therefore essential. The Opium Advisory Committee came to the conclusion at its meeting last year that sufficient material as to the world's legitimate requirements had been collected to enable such a limitation to be effected. In the first instance, the figure would necessarily be approximate and would have to be fixed sufficiently high to allow a margin for error.
He thought that it would be possible, as the enquiries were continued, to obtain trustworthy figures for the legitimate requirements of the various countries. As regards the allocation of the quotas among the different manufacturing countries, he started from the supposition that all the manufacturing countries would give their figures of the amounts manufactured at present. On a rough calculation he estimated that in the case of cocaine, the reduction, in the first instance, on the estimates of requirements already supplied was about 25%. Sir Malcolm Delevingne did not think that it would be impossible to fix a reasonable margin for not too abnormal circumstances. As regards quite abnormal circumstances, such as a big war, the position would be much the same as at present. Special steps could be taken to augment the supply.
It would be necessary to provide for a new country to begin the manufacture of drugs because if this were not done, many countries
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Sir Melcolm Deloyingne replica to these objections.
The British Covernment took the view that as long as the drugs
were manufactured greatly in excess of the amounts required for
legitirate, medical and scientific purposes, it would be
impossible to prevent the traffic in them for illicit purposes.
The limitation of the manufacture of the drugs to the amounts
required for medical and scientific purposes was therefore
essential. The Opium dvisory Commitice came to the conclusion
at its meeting last year that cufficient material as to the
world' a legitimate requirements had been collected to enable
such a limitation to be effected. In the first instance,
the figure would necessarily be approximate and would have
be fixed sufficiently high to allow a margin for error.
He thought that it would be possible, as the enquiries were
continued, to obtain trustworthy figures for the legitimate
requirements of the various countries. ...s regards the
ellocation of the quotas among the different manufacturing countries, he started from the supposition that all the manu-
facturing countries would give their figures of the amounts
manufactured at present. On a rough calculation he estimated
that in the case of cocaine, the reduction, in the first
instance, on the estimates of requirements already supplied
was about 25%. Sir Malcolm Delevingzo did not think that it
would be impossible to fix a reasonable margin for not too
abnormal circumstances. As regards quite abnormal circumstances,
such as a big war, the position would be mich the same as at
present. Special steps could be taken to augment the supply.
It would be necessary to provide for a new country to begin the
manufacture of drugs because if this were not done, many countries
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