Unfortunately China was at that time preoccupied with civil strife and the war with Japan, resulting in little effective action to control illicit nar- cotics. On the other hand, the Japanese occupying forces protected and en- couraged the heroin trade within their areas. Indeed, one factory operated by the militarist Japanese Government in Seoul, Korea, produced 2,571 kilo- grammes of heroin in 1938-9. Of this, some 2,400 kilogrammes were con- signed to the Man Chu Kuo Monopoly Bureau in Japanese Occupied Man- churia. But for China, it was not until the situation stablised in the early 1950s that any effective action against the drug problem was possible. Heroin first appeared in Hong Kong in 1924. At that time supplies came from Europe for both Hong Kong and China. It was reported that the heroin trade was closely linked to the arms trade and was controlled by Formosans (Taiwan) and Japanese. Heroin abuse in Hong Kong was first noticed in 1927 with the appearance of heroin pills. The pills were imported from Shanghai where they could be purchased for HK$14 per 10,000 and retailed in Hong Kong for some HK$100. The first heroin pill factory in Hong Kong was located in 1928, and by 1933 local manufacture had become firmly established. Indeed, in 1934, the Hong Kong Government reported to the League of Nations. that 'the heroin pill habit appears to be gaining ground rapidly'. The con- sumption of heroin pills seems to have reached a peak in 1936, when the Hong Kong Government reported 'the traffic in diacetylmorphine pills has increased to such an extent as to overshadow the whole drug situation in Hong Kong'. Some 3.6 million pills were seized and the government estimated that 180 million pills were illegally manufac- tured in Hong Kong in 1936.
The year 1936 must be regarded as a milestone in Hong Kong. In that year, the first heroin factory was neutralised by the police. The equipment and chemicals seized in the factory had been imported from Tientsin and Shanghai.
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Despite increasing awareness of the situation, heroin pills remained major problem for the Hong Kong authorities until 1939, when their abuse and popularity declined. An amendment to the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance made pill smoking illegal (previously only possession of the pills was an offence). The same year also heralded a new method of heroin con- sumption-the Government Report for 1939 noted 'evidence of the preparation and smoking of cigarettes, in the end of which a small quantity of a mixture of caffeine and diacetyl- morphine was found'.
Little is known of the heroin traffic during the Japanese occupation. However, in his Annual Report for 1946-7 the Commissioner of Police stated, 'Heroin divans are found in- frequently. Even with Japanese en- couragement, the use of this drug had never seriously challenged the use of opium'.
In the early 1950s there was an influx of refugees to Hong Kong from China and this seriously affected the local scene. In his 1951-2 Annual Report, the Commissioner of Police stated, 'While the younger generation in Hong Kong has grown away from the habit (of heroin abuse) the displaced persons population habituated to it in China has provided a market and skill in supplying it. Prosecutions during the year more than doubled and there was an increase in the use of heroin and morphine directly traced to Shanghai habits'. From that date the problem rapidly escalated and heroin became the favoured drug of Hong Kong addicts at the expense of the less physically damaging opium.
Although the first heroin factory lo- cated by the police in Hong Kong was in 1936, little is known about the chemists involved. The influx of re- fugees in the early 1950s included several notable heroin chemists and traffickers of Shanghainese origin- Shanghai having been the centre of the illicit heroin trade in China. At that time, opium distribution in Hong Kong was subject to intense police pressure and the Shanghainese con- centrated on the promotion of the heroin trade, which was still very much in its infancy. Although this trade was subsequently usurped by the Chiu Chau narcotics syndicates, Shanghai- nese heroin chemists were predomi- nant at the manufacturing level, often employing refugee Chiu Chaus as assistants. (Chiu Chau is a District in Kwangtung Province.) In April 1966, the original Narcotics Bureau paper on Heroin Manufacture re- ported, 'over the past 12 years the majority of chemists and others as- sociated with heroin manufacture in Hong Kong had previous experience in trafficking in this drug prior to their arrival in the colony'.
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