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(THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT)

SECRET

C. P. (55) 206

16th December, 1955

CABINET

COPY NO. 63

HEROIN

Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Home Department and Minister for Welsh Affairs

The Cabinet authorised me to maintain the decision not to renew licences for the manufacture of heroin after the end of this year and, in announcing this, to make it clear that we would keep its working under constant review in the light of experience gained (C. M. (55) 44th Conclusions, Minute 4).

2.

Lord Jowitt told the Lord Chancellor that, in the course of the speech he intended to make on 13th December, he was going to raise the question of the vires of our action in prohibiting the manufacture, import and export of heroin after the end of this year.

3.

This issue was considered by a meeting of Ministers over which the Lord Chancellor presided on 12th December, when the Law Officers advised that Section 9 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1951, for the purpose of preventing the improper use of the drug, confers a power to provide by Regulations for controlling, as opposed to totally prohibiting, the manufacture, etc. of the drug.

4. In the light of that opinion, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made a statement in the House of Lords and I made a similar statement in the House of Commons indicating that the Government would seriously consider the legal issue which Lord Jowitt had raised and, while the matter was under examination, the renewal of licences to manufacture would not be refused.

5.

The Law Officers are satisfied that the Secretary of State has power under Section 8 of the Dangerous Drugs Act to refuse licences to import and export.

6. The question now arises: "What happens to the ban if the Home Secretary's powers are not fully adequate to enforce it?" The Narcotics Commission of the United Nations have already been informed of the intention of Her Majesty's Government to prohibit the manufacture, import and export of heroin as from the end of this year. The United Kingdom has played a leading part in the campaign against the illicit traffic, and I am sure that I may expect to be questioned in the House as to what we now propose to do. It would, I feel sure, be wrong to throw

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