C.470.M.313.1938.Xi (O.C. /A.R.1937/98)
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LEAGUE OF NATIONS C.470.M.313.1938.XI nicated to the Council (O.C. /A.R.1937/98) Ushers of the League) (issued in English only) Geneva, November 23rd, 1938. TBAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS ANNUAL REPORTS BY GOVERNMENTS EC-R 1937 HONG KONG Comm1 mica ted hy the Government of the United Kingdom Note by the Secretary-General In accordance with Article 21 of the Convention of j]931 for limiting the Manufacture and regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, the Secretary-General Èas the honour to coâimunicate herewith to the parties o the Convention the above-mentioned report. The eport is also communicated to other States and to he Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and other ngerous Drugs. (For the form of annual reports, see document 0.C .1600). REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1937 ON THE TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS. PRINTED AT HONG KONG PRISON, STANLEÏ. report OF THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1937 ON THE TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS. A.— General. I. Laws and P ublications. (1) The Opium Ordinance (No. 7 of 1932) controls the m ovem ent of Raw Opium, and the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (No. 35 of 1935) controls the movement and sale of Dangerous Drugs. Codeine and Dionin and their salts are treated as D angerous Drugs for .purposes of import, export, wholesale trade and manufacture only. A new Schedule was brought into force under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance containing a list o f preparations containing Dangerous Drugs which are v.xempted from the ordinance. See Appendix VI. (2) The two ordinances mentioned cover in the essentials the various recommendations of the League’s Advisory Com mittee. Always excepting shipments of Dangerous Drugs etc., exported for use in: China during the Sino-Japanese conflict, the “Import Certificate” system w^orked satisfactorily as regard s the need of the Colony, and all licences to import for use in Hong Kong are specially endorsed “for use for Medicinal Purposes in the Colony” and “Not to be re exported.” The question of practice with regard to countries which have not yet adopted the system did not arise. Special arrangements have been made for imports for use in China as referred to above. No difficulties arose with regard to Raw )pium or Dangerous Drugs in transit. (■3) There were no local publications of importance. 2 II. Administration. (1) There were no important local modifications in tlr, administrative arrangements for the execution of the lm ' national Conventions, and no special difficulties were encoun tered. (2) The campaign against Diacetylmorphine (Heroin) Pi' was carried on with vigour during the year under review Persons found in possession of heroin or working in factories making these pills were committed for trial to the Criminal Sessions and Appendix IIIB shows the result of these cases Appendix VA gives tabulated details of Pill Factory cases and Appendix VB gives tabulated details of Dangerous Dnio seizures. During the year over 3,500 flats or floors wer't visited in connection with the Diacetylmorphine campaign and the methods of detection adopted in 1936 proved most success ful. A particularly pleasing feature is that in some cases these lead to the arrest and conviction of important dealers in Diacetylmorphine. The price of Diacetylmorphine Pills remained at about 20 cents in Hong Kong currency for 10 pills. Many pill divans were located during the year and in most cases these reopened within a day or two of a raid; in three cases where special observation wa-s kept they opened again within a few hours. New legislation was being considered at the end of the year with the object of dealing with these divans on lines similar to those adopted, admittedly without much success, for Opium Divans-. As in 1936 special attention was paid to imports of Caffeine and Acetic Anhydride. Imports of Caffeine during the year were 12,768 pounds (11,391 pounds in 1936) but it is difficult to .assess the actual consump tion of Caffeine in Hong Kong owing to the fact that much cargo which in some cases included Caffeine, intended for other ports, was landed in Hong Kong during the year owing to the hostilities in China. In many cases such cargo was taken delivery of in Hong Kong and may or may not have been exported. A shipment of 22 demijohns of Acetic Anhydride was owing to the hostilities landed in Hong Kong towards the end of Angust—this shipment had been originally consigned from Tientsin to Hankow. In November it was returned to Shang hai. Owing to the hostilities there was a definite shortage of Diacetylmorphine in Hong Kong during September but as soon as ships recommenced calling at Tientsin new supplies arrived. It was of special interest that there were no indications of the import or export of Diacetylmorphine Pills. In the early part of thé year the factories were in many cases veil — 3 — furnished and organised, but towards the end of the year it l)ecame obvious that the campaign was breaking up the large concerns and that pill makers were not finding their operations lucrative. It was noted (as in 1936) that no money was found in pill factories but at the Diacetylmorphine depots mentioned in Appendix VB money in considerable amounts was found. The persons arrested and convicted in connection with cases in this Appendix were either distributors or agents of importers. III. Control op I nternational T r a d e. (1) As already stated Import Certificates are issued for local use only. Slight temporary modifications were however made to meet relief purposes in China. There Were no exports of Dangerous Drugs wThich had been specially imported for Hong Kong use only. (2) These certificates are issued by the Superintendent of Imports and Exports. Diacetylmorphine must be consigned to the Director of Medical Services who will hand the consign ment over to the consignee. (3) The question of diversion or transit certificates did notarise. No diversion would be allowed without close scru tiny and all shipments of opium and drugs in transit through the Colony with or without transhipment are scrutinized. (4) Exporting countries regularly send copies of export authorizations, and these, after being checked against actual imports, are returned to the issuing authority, if such return has been requested. (5) No forged documents in connection with the move ment of Opium or Dangerous Drugs were discovered. (6) No difficulties arose with .regard to transit, tranship ment or diversion and there is no free zone in Hong Kong. Opium or Dangerous Drugs held in Hong Kong for a few days pending transhipment on through Bills of Lading are stored in bonded warehouses. (7) There was no traffic with countries which have not adopted the certificate system. (8) There were no changes in the application of the system to Indian Hemp which is treated as a Dangerous Drug. IV. I nternational Co-operation. (1) Hong Kong being a dependency of Great Britain ]la, no power to conclude international treaties or agreements (2) Hong Kong has continued to co-operate on every possible occasion with other Governments. Where possible communication is made direct by the Superintendent of Imports and Exports to the responsible authority in Far Eastern Colonies, and in other cases, communication lias been effected through the usual diplomatic channels. In addition to the British Colonies special contact has been made with the departments concerned in the United States and in Java. V. I llic it T r a f f ic . (1) a. Although the traffic in Diacetylmorphine Pills did not increase in Hong Kong during the year under review it still overshadows the whole drug situation in Hong Kong. During the year 3,936,230 of these pills were seized in 405 cases, the great majority of the pills being found in pill factories. Many persons were found carrying these pills and special mention must be made of the number of young persons who were not of the lowest classes found smoking these pills in pill divans. There appears to be a brisk trade in pills similar in all respects to Diacetylmorphine Pills except that they do not contain Diacetylmorphine. Factories were found actually making these pills wrhich were often found mixed with “ genuine” pills in pill divans or in divans where no “ genuine” pills were available at the time of the raid. As the,result of the year’s experience it is obvious that organised detection rather than the informer system is the most successful method of attacking the drug traffic in Hong Kong. In many cases pill factories were located (a) before operations had com menced or (b) after they had operated for a few. days only. b. There were eight important seizures of Diacetyl morphine during the year and from the conditions under which the drug was seized in most cases it was obvious that Tientsin was the source of supply. (1) The “Itobashi” case. A Japanese male was searched as he landed from the S.S. “ Hupeh” on which he had travelled from Tientsin and 704 ounces of Diacetylmorphine were found concealed in his baggage. In addition 250 ounces of Brucine (an ingredient of Diacetylmorphine pills) were discovered. There was no indication of the factory of origin of the drugs which were, as is usual, unlabelled. — 5 (2) The “Wong” case. A Northern Chinese travelled from Tientsin on the same boat as Itobashi but it was impos sible to prove that the two men were working in collusion.