LEAGUE OF SAT10MS omnnznicated C .1 9 8 .M .9 5 .1 9 5 5 .XI« o the Council uTCl23(x)24. nd Members the League. Geneva, March 17th ,1933. TRAFFIC IE OPIUM M D OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS R3P0RT BY THE GOViJu'MENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF IjjMBEICA FOR THE YEAR 1931 OE THE TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AED OTHER DAECEROUS DRUGS. (Received by the Secretariat Januaiy 5th, 1933). Communicated by the Gov e rr ment o f the United States of America through the Netherlands Government. NOTE BY T^TR SECRETARY-GEEERAl. The Secretary-General has th e honour to circulate the attached annual re p o rt of the Govern­ ment of the U ti ted States of America for the year 1931 on the t r a f f i c in opium and other dargerous drug s . TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1931 REPORT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1932 REPORT by t h e g o v e r n m e n t o f t h e u n it e d s t a t e s of AMERICA FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1931, ON THE TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS A. GENERAL 1. New Legislation. Oil February 18, 1931, there was approved a new Federal raw- directing the deportation of any alien (except an addict who is not a dealer in, or peddler of, opium, coca leaves, heroin, or any salt, derivative, or preparation of opium or coca leaves) who, after the date of approval of the act, shall be convicted and sentenced for violation of or conspiracy to violate any Federal narcotic law. Prior to the enactment of this law, alien illicit traffickers in narcotics who= had been convicted could be deported by reason of their offenses only if one or more of such offenses were connected with an unlawful im­ portation of narcotic drugs in violation of the narcotic drugs import and export act. It will be seen that under the new legislation, with the exception noted, all alien illicit traffickers in narcotic drugs are de­ portable, upon conviction, regardless of the particular narcotic law, or particular provision thereof, which has been violated. Another Federal law, approved March 2,1931, provided th at where a Federal prisoner is an alien and subject to deportation the Board of Parole may authorize the release of such prisoner after he shall have become eligible for parole on condition that he be deported and remain outside of the United States and all places subject to its jurisdiction ; and upon such parole becoming effective, said prisoner shall be delivered to the duly authorized immigration official for deportation. As stated in the report for the previous year, a Federal law ap­ proved March 4, 1931, appropriated a further sum of $1,500,000 for preparation of plans and employment of technical services, construc­ tion of buildings, and other purposes in connection with the insti­ tution for the confinement and treatment of persons addicted to the use of habit-forming narcotic drugs, to be located near Lexington, Ky. This law provides that the total cost of the particular institu­ tion, excluding cost of site, shall not exceed $3,500,000, but the Secre­ tary of the Treasury is authorized to enter into a contract or contracts for the project within the total thus fixed. It is appropriate to state, (1) 2 while not pertinent to the period covered by this report, that on Feb­ ruary 2, 1932, an act of Congress was approved appropriating the sum of $164,780 for the acquisition of a site, previously selected, near Fort Worth, Tex., for the second institution for the care and treat­ ment of narcotic-drug addicts. NEW REGULATIONS AND ORDERS In the performance of the duty imposed upon the Secretary of the Treasury, as described in the previous report under the heading “ New Legislation,” to cooperate with the several States in the suppression of the abuse of narcotic drugs in their respective jurisdictions, a new regulation, identified as Treasury Decision No. 5, was issued May 1, 1931. By this regulation the Commissioner of Narcotics was au­ thorized to furnish to prosecuting officers of the several States of the United States a report or statement of such information, obtained from time to time by the Bureau of Narcotics concerning a violation or suspected violation of narcotic laws, as the commissioner might deem cognizable by said prosecuting officers for further investigation or prosecution in their respective jurisdictions. The Commissioner was also authorized to direct the attendance of any officer, agent, or employee of the Bureau of Narcotics who might be in possession of pertinent information to testify as a witness in any inquiry or pro­ ceeding instituted by authority of law by or before a grand jury, magistrate, or court of any State, where the direct object of such inquiry or proceeding was to determine whether there had been, in a particular case, a violation of State law or municipal ordinance relating to narcotic drugs. Authority was granted to the commis­ sioner to direct any such officer, agent, or employee to produce for examination at said inquiry or proceeding such record of the Bureau of Narcotics or copy of any part thereof as the commissioner might deem pertinent to the particular case. Under this regulation the commissioner is also authorized to furnish, to licensing boards or other State agencies authorized by law to revoke or suspend licenses to practice a profession or engage in a trade in the course of which narcotic drugs are possessed, controlled, or dispensed, such informa­ tion in the possession of the Bureau of Narcotics as the commissioner may deem appropriate to the enforcement of any State law or regu­ lation or municipal ordinance relating to the granting, withholding, suspension, or revocation of such licenses. The attendance as wit­ nesses before such boards or agencies of any officer, agent, or employee of the Bureau of Narcotics, and the production of bureau records or copies thereof for use as evidence in proceedings before said boards or agencies, are authorized in the same manner as has been described above with reference to State criminal prosecutions. 3 ^ new regulation, identified as Treasury Decision No. 6, was issued August 8, 1931, providing for the rendition to the Bureau of Narcotics of monthly returns or reports accounting for all transac­ tions involving special coca leaves ; that is to say, coca leaves im­ ported exclusively for the manufacture of nonnarcotic flavoring ex­ tract of which the narcotic content must be destroyed under the supervision of representatives of the Commissioner of Narcotics. Under date of September 10,1931, directions were issued to United States consular officers that no consular invoice should include opium or coca leaves covered by more than one import permit. This direc­ tion resulted in discontinuance of the practice of covering by one consular invoice a number of shipments to the United States made simultaneously under authority of two or more formal import per­ mits. United States consular officers were also instructed at the same time th a t the quantity of opium or coca leaves shipped must not exceed by any amount the quantity set forth in the import permit under which the shipment was made and that any excess, however small, would be subject to forfeiture on arrival in the United States. The instructions also required that invoices must state the number and date of the import permit under authority of which the shipment was m ade, and that the invoices, whenever possible, state the country in which the opium or coca leaves were produced. 2. Control of International Trade. The definition of the term “ narcotic drug ” as used in the law relating to imports, exports, and in-transit shipments remains the same as previously reported ; that is to say, the term includes opium^ coca leaves, and all their salts, derivatives, and preparations—thus covering morphine, heroin, codeine, cocaine, ecgonine, the so-called esters and ethers, and all preparations containing such substances. Importations during the period continued to be restricted by law to crude opium and coca leaves and were limited to such quantities thereof as were considered necessary to provide for medical and scientific uses only, plus additional quantities of coca leaves permit­ ted to be imported under the act of June 14, 1930, as described in the previous report solely for the manufacture of a non-narcotic flavoring extract. All cocaine, ecgonine, and all salts, derivatives, and preparations from which cocaine or ecgonine might be syn­ thesized or made, contained in such additional amounts of coca leaves, were destroyed under the supervision of Government officers acting as authorized representatives of the Commissioner of Narcotics. Thus the importation of quantities of coca leaves in addition to those required for medical purposes did not have the effect of increasing the supply in the country of habit-forming or potentially habit- forming derivatives of coca leaves, since all such derivatives con- 4 tainecl in these additional importations of coca leaves were destroyed and the non-narcotic flavoring extract obtained from such leaves was tested and found free from all habit-forming or potentially habit-forming derivatives. Attention is again invited to the fact that the determination of the quantities of crude drugs to be imported for medical purposes was made by the Commissioner of Narcotics, with the assistance afforded by a report of the result of studies and investigations, made by the United States Public Health Service, of the quantities of crude opium, coca leaves, and their salts, derivatives, and prepara­ tions considered necessary to supply the medicinal and scientific requirements of the United States.