A Ms Text Replaces the One Circulated Document C.469.M.282.1936.XI
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a Ms text replaces the one circulated document C.469.M .282.1936.XI. [Communicated to the Council Official No.: G. 4G 9( 1). H E.282(1). 1936. XI. and the Members of the League.] [O.C./A.R.1935/10.] (Issued in English only.) Geneva, November 16th, 1936. LEAGUE OF NATIONS TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS ANNUAL REPORTS BY GOVERNMENTS FOR 1935 ‘IRAQ Note by the Secretary-General. In accordance with Article 21 of the Convention for limiting the Manufacture and regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs of 1931, the Secretary-General has the honour to communicate herewith to the parties to the Convention and to other States the above- mentioned report.1 A. General. (1) New Legislation and Regulations. During the year under review, the Government took the important step of prohibiting the import, export, manufacture, preparation, sale or keeping for sale, of opium and its dross in 'Iraq. These restrictions came into force on August 1st, 1935. Up to that date, the control of import and smoking was as in previous years. The consumption of opium other than medicinal opium during the seven months ending July 31st, 1935, was 33 kg. 175 grm. as against 53 kg. 456 grm. for the year 1934, and the gross revenue amounted to 341 ‘Iraqi dinars as against 802 ‘Iraqi dinars for the previous year. The transit through ‘Iraq of raw opium continued to be permitted subject to the provisions laid down in Excise Notifications (Opium) Nos. 4 and 5 of 1935. (See Appendices I and II.) A new Dangerous Drugs Law to bring the legislation in accord with the 1931 Limitation Convention was before Parliament in 1935 and will be published in 1936. In the meantime, control is exercised strictly in conformity with that Convention. No other modification in administrative arrangements was made during the year in respect of medicinal opium and the other dangerous drugs. (2) Control of International Trade. The import-certificate system for the control of the import and export of dangerous drugs 15 working satisfactorily. No opium or other dangerous drugs passed in transit through ‘Iraq during the year under review. (3) International Regulation of the Manufacture, Sale, Distribution and Use, etc., of the Drugs. No evidence was obtained during the year of the existence in ‘Iraq of any addicts to medicinal opium and to dangerous drugs. (4) International Co-operation. • No information. 1 The report by the Government of 'Iraq for the year 1935 is based on the old form of annual reports (document •23(4)). S ?°°* x/37. Imp. Réunies, Chambéry. B. Particular Drugs. (5) Raw Opium and Coca Leaves. The coca plant is not grown in ‘Iraq. (6) Prepared Opium. No information. (7) Indian Hemp. This plant is not indigenous in ‘Iraq. Cultivation is prohibited and importation of hemp seeds or hemp plants (Cannabis sativa) is also prohibited. No cases of illicit possession of charas were discovered during the year 1935. The use of charas and hashish is confined to Indians and a few Arabs of the lower classes. Hashish and prepared opium, when confiscated, are destroyed, according to rules, by a Committee of excise and police officials. Charas is smuggled from India and hashish from Syria. Relating to hashish, 53 cases were detected and the quantity seized was 11 kg. 594.5 grm! Prosecutions resulted in the infliction of aggregate fines amounting to 223.500 ‘Iraqi dinars and of imprisonment totalling four years, five months and five days. During the previous year, the number of such cases was 55, involving 20 kg. 631 grm., in regard to which the total penalties amounted to 80.250 ‘Iraqi dinars as fines and six years, one month and nineteen days as imprisonment. (8) Other Drugs (Medicinal Opium, Morphine, Heroin, Cocaine, etc.). No factories producing these drugs exist in ‘Iraq. Persons permitted to use or to possess these drugs are registered medical, dental and veterinary practitioners for their professional use and licensed pharmacists and licensed wholesale druggists. These are as follows : (1) Medical practitioners : total 287, of which 172 are in the Government civil service, 29 in the ‘Iraqi army and 86 private practitioners ; (2) Dental practitioners : total 31, surgeon-dentists ; (3) Veterinary practitioners : total 31, of which 22 were civilian and 9 military ; (4) Licensed pharmacists : total 126, of which 63 are in charge of private pharmacies and 51 in the employ of the Government ; (5) Licensed wholesale druggists : total 15. The chief medical officers of the liwas are in administrative charge of these professions, and in the larger liwas of Baghdad and Basra there is an Inspector of Pharmacies. The Dangerous Drugs Registers are kept and are inspected periodically. Stocks are checked and prescriptions seen. Any fault discovered is dealt with under the Pharmacy and Druggist and Medical Practice Laws. The supervision is ample. (9) Illicit Traffic. During the year under report, 151 cases relating to raw opium, other than medicinal opium, were dealt with by the local courts in respect of 58 kg. 879.5 grm., as compared with 129 cases and 94 kg. 448 grm. in 1934, and 128 cases and 56 kg. 256.25 grm. in 1933. Of the 151 cases, 124 were in respect of the illegal possession of raw opium and 27 concerned prepared opium and sukhta. The fines imposed by magistrates amounted to 107.850 ‘Iraqi dinars and the terms of imprisonment inflicted aggregated three years, six months and sixteen days ; the corresponding figures for the previous two years were 117.350 ‘Iraqi dinars, with eight years, three months and four days' imprisonment in 1934, and 387.665 ‘Iraqi dinars with eight years, four months and twelve days’ imprisonment in 1933. The total quantity (both Government opium and opium from confiscations) remaining with the Customs and Excise Department on August 1st, 1935, and handed over to the Health Department was 129 kg. 977 grm. The method employed by traffickers are many and varied. Opium and hashish have been found concealed under the saddles of animals, some in the handbags of travellers, etc. Involving 11 kg. 594.5 grm. of hashish, 53 cases were detected during the year under review. The origin of nearly all these consignments was Syria. All possible preventive measures are being adopted to suppress this illicit trade across extensive land frontiers and this matter is still the subject of correspondence between the authorities in Syria and the ‘Iraqi Government. No prosecutions were undertaken for illicit traffic in medicinal opium or the other dangerous drugs and no confiscations were made during the year under review. C. Miscellaneous. (10) China. There is nothing to report. (11) Other Drugs. There is nothing to report. — 3 — Appendix I. EXCISE NOTIFICATION (OPIUM) No. 4 OF 1935. O p i u m R u l e s . I hereby make the following rules in accordance with the decision taken by the Council of Ministers at its meeting held on Ju ne 24th, 1935, and pursuant to the powers vested in me under Article 2(3) of the Opium Proclamation dated October 4th, 1918, and Article 3 of the National Government (Transference of Powers) Proclamation, 1921 : Article 1.—The cultivation of the poppy in ‘Iraq for the purpose of the extraction of opium is prohibited. Article 2.—The import, export, manufacture, preparation, sale or keeping for sale of opium and its dross is prohibited with effect as from August 1st, 1935, but the transit through 'Iraq of raw opium shall be permitted subject to the following conditions : (1) Opium to be imported for the purpose of passing through ‘Iraq in transit shall be raw opium only of the quality known in Iran as “ Qalub ” (cube shaped). Transportation in transit shall only be permissible from Iran by the route Khanaqin-Baghdad and Basra after entry into ‘Iraq under authority of an import authorisation or licence to be issued by the Collector of Customs and Excise, Baghdad, in the Form (A) annexed hereto. Note.— Raw opium means the spontaneously coagulated juice obtained from the capsules of the Papaver Somniferum L., which has been submitted only to the necessary manipulations for packing and transport, whatever its content of morphine. (2) An import authorisation or licence for raw opium in transit through ‘Iraq shall not be issued unless the export authorisation or a certified copy thereof granted by the Iranian Government is presented by the importer to the Collector of Customs and Excise, Baghdad. In the absence of an export authorisation from Iran, the Collector of Customs and Excise, Baghdad, may, in lieu thereof, issue an import authorisation or licence on presentation to him of the import certificate issued by the country of destination in respect of any particular consignment in the form prescribed by Article 13 of the Opium Convention of February 1925 (Form A, as annexed). (3) No import authorisation or licence shall be issued when the place of destination of the opium is shown to be situated within the country of its origin. (4) No opium in transit in accordance with Article 2 (1) and (2) of these rules shall be allowed to be re-exported from ‘Iraq without an export authorisation in the form hereto annexed (Form B) to be granted by the Collector of Customs and Excise, Basra, and to accompany each consignment. Provided that no export authorisation shall be given when the opium for re-export is destined for a place situated within the country of origin of such opium. (5) If a consignment is required to be re-exported to a country other than the one issuing the import certificate, the Collector of Customs and Excise, Basra, may issue an export authorisation in the form prescribed (Form B, as annexed) to such other country on the authority of a diversion certificate in the form hereto annexed (Form C), granted by the Director-General of Customs and Excise, accompanied by an import certificate from the country to which it is intended to divert the consignment, but in such case the diversion of the portion of a consignment shall not be permitted and the whole of the original consignment must be diverted.