100 THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 



ANTI OPIUM MOVEMENT. 



MALAY CHINESE KILLING THE TRADE — PLANT USED FOR CURE. 



The anti opium movement in Malay, says a Penang correspondent, 

 can only be described as colossal. 



So rapidly has it spread and so popular has it become that it reminds 

 one more of a Welsh revival than a movement undertaken by the 

 stolid Chinese. When the news of the movement first came from 

 China a few enthusiasts took up the matter in Singapore and opened a 

 free hospital for the cure of smokers, but very little progress was made. 

 A few weeks ago, however, a well-to-do Chinaman in Kuala Lumpur, 

 the capital of Selangor, received from China specimens of a plant 

 which was said to be a cure for the opium habit. A short search 

 revealed the fact that the plant grew freely in Selangor in a wild 

 state, and in a very short time a quantity was obtained and active 

 operations commenced. The leaves of the plant, which appears to be 

 a shrub somewhat akin to gambler, are exposed to the sun for a day, 

 then chopped fine and roasted, after which an infusion is made and 

 the specific is ready for use. The first man experimented upon was a 

 cooly employed by a European lady, and although he was a confirmed 

 opium smoker he was pronounced cured in a week. 



Now an anti opium society has been formed in Kuala Lumpur, and 

 the specific is distributed free, while so great has become the demand 

 for the "opium plant," as the Chinese call it. that those who gather 

 the leaves in the jungle demand $io per picul (133M pounds) for 

 them. The dispensaries established for the distribution of the specific 

 are hard pushed to keep up with the demand, the applicants in Kuala 

 Lumpur alone numbering over 2,000 daily. The anti opiumists claim 

 to have cured, in the few short weeks since the plant was discovered, 

 over 14,000 people in the Kuala Lumpur district alone, and the state- 

 ment appears to be corroborated by the fact, which is vouched for by 

 a partner in the opium farm, who is naturally deeply interested in the 

 matter, that the receipts of the opium shops in and around Kuala 

 Lumpur have fallen off by two-thirds, while several shops have had to 

 close for lack of custom. 



The Federated Malay States will not be very much afifected even if 

 the opium habit be entirely stamped out, for they do not depend upon 

 opium to any great extent for their revenue ; but in the Straits Settle- 

 ments matters will be very dififerent, for the opium farm is the prin- 



