CO129-502-10 Macao opium traffic 6-12-1926 - 7-12-1927 — Page 127

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9.

Cocaine.

purposes.

a) Coom is not grown in the Portuguese colonies.

b) The trade in coca is only allowed for medicinal

o)

a)

There are no coomine factori es

Cocaine may only be used by doctors and chemists.

The quantity consumed at Macao in 1924 wae 178.63

grammes and, in 1925, 355 grammes.

The quantities consumed in the other Portuguese

colonies were approximately the same as those given in the

Report for 1923.

10.

No other narootio was imported into Macao.

It should be observed that in Macao, where only

opium for smoking is used, no noteworthy cases of organie

decay are observed such as are found in other places where

the alkaloids also are used.

C. MISCELLANEOUS

It is almost impossible to prevent the smuggling

of opium in Macao, not only because the inhabitants of the

town and the frontier provinces are constantly entering and

leaving, but also on account of the free regime in force in the port; this regime is necessitated by economic cond it ions

and could not be changed without serious consequences to the

economic position of the colony.

The opium prepared at Macao 18 highly esteemed by

opium smokers in the Far East, and smugglers often counterfeit

the labels of the Macao concessionaire in order to pass off

their wares as genuine. For instance, 443 tins of opium

impor ted /