TNAG-0820-FCO40-1027-Narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 80

Background

The preparation of diacetylmorphine or heroin, as it is now more commonly known, was initially reported in 1874 by C. R. Wright at St Mary's Hospital in London. But from a medical point of view, there was little interest in this new morphine derivative for some 20 years. Then in the 1890s several investigators studied the physiological effects of diacetylmorphine. Their favourable reports, along with a grow- ing interest in the drug shown by the medical profession, led the Bayer Company in Eberfield, Germany, to start production of the compound on a commercial scale in 1898.

The new compound was marketed by Bayer under the trade name of 'Heroin',

a name which has sub- sequently become a synonym for the drug. The then high frequency of tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases had created a demand for an effective remedy and it was hoped that heroin would be the panacea. It was also considered to be an effec- tive cure for morphine addiction! The new drug received a spontaneous and widespread acceptance, com- parable in many ways to that of penicillin a half century later.

However, it took a long time for the medical profession to realise that strict control over heroin, because of its addictive nature and side-effects, was necessary. On the other hand the criminal world soon discovered that heroin possessed properties which they could exploit-these were the formula- tive years of today's problems of addiction.

The first country where heroin addic- tion became a major problem was the USA, closely followed by Egypt and China. Heroin had been available for some 20 years before the American Medical Association adopted a resolu- tion that it be prohibited. Subsequently the legitimate production of heroin in the USA virtually ceased after 1924.

DISSOLVE ON THE TONGUE

Antikamnia&Heroin Tablets

( 5 GR. ANTIKAMNIA: 1/12 GR: HEROIN HYDROCHLOR

IN THE TREATMENT OF

A RESPIRATORY STIMULANT, SEDATIVE, EXPECTORANT AND ANALGESIC

COUGHS, BRONCHITIS, LARYNGITIS, PNEUMONIA, DYSPNⱭ A, PHTHISIS, CORYZA, WHOOPING COUGH, ASTHMA, HAY FEVER, COLDS, ETC.

THE

→→→ DOSE: ONE TABLET EVERY TWO, THREE OR FOUR HOURS AS INDICATED gees

· SAMPLE BOX FREE TO PHYSICIANS

ADDRESS

CHEMICAL COMPANY-ST.LOUIS, U.S.A.

Large quantities of opium were already being consumed in China when heroin began to arrive from Europe at the turn of the century. The new drug soon found favour for various reasons with addicts. Japanese phar- maceutical firms also started produc- ing heroin on a large scale for the Chinese market, thereby fulfilling the growing demand by the addicts. Whenever the prohibition on opium smoking was periodically enforced by the Chinese Government, the con- sumption of heroin would increase. It was much easier to evade the law when consuming heroin for, unlike opium, heroin does not have any particular smell when it is smoked and detection was, therefore, much more difficult. As a result the number of heroin users increased at an alarm- ing rate.

Heroin pills originated in the Far East around 1920 and their abuse grew to enormous proportions. Initially they were taken orally rather than by in- halation. The abuse spread to the United States and other countries but then quickly subsided. The first seizure of heroin pills took place in Shanghai in 1921. An article in the North China Daily News (Shanghai) in 1925 reported that about 10 tons of heroin

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had been used in 1923 alone for the sole purpose of manufacturing pills, which were marketed as 'anti-opium pills'.

International control of heroin was first agreed by the Hague Opium Con- vention of 1912. Parties to the Con- vention agreed to use their best endeavours' to limit the manufacture, sale and use of drugs exclusively for medical purposes. Regrettably, the Hague Convention did not create the administrative machinery to imple- ment the agreements and it was not until the Geneva Convention of 1925 that these defects were corrected and international control became a reality. For China, the result of this action was a rapidly decreasing supply of heroin from Europe. For the first time nar- cotics dealers in China began to manu- facture their own heroin, the main centre for which seems to have been Shanghai. In 1934 China enacted strict laws to tackle the growing problem. The 'Provisional Regulations for the Drastic Prohibition of Highpowered Narcotic Drugs' were designed to deal with the increasingly serious problem of manufactured narcotics.